


Mixtape➳Damon Albarn

by asomina



Category: Blur (Band), Gorillaz, Oasis (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Anxiety, Comedy, Depression, Drugs, F/M, Fluff, Music
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:07:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29061810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asomina/pseuds/asomina
Summary: 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 Damon Albarn annoymouslyleaves mixtapes for the girl he'sinfatuated with.
Relationships: Damon Albarn/Graham Coxon, Damon Albarn/Graham Coxon/Original Female Character(s), Damon Albarn/Original Female Character(s), Damon Albarn/Reader, Graham Coxon/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 3





	1. ►Track One

˚ * ⋆  
˛ * ⭒ ✺  
･ *･ﾟ: * ❅ ✧   
･ ･ ..✹ ✧..   
. *✫ ⋆*❅*•̩̩͙ ﾟ ..+ ⋆  
  
⋆ * . * .  
. ･ . ･ . * .   
. ･ ･ + . ⋆** ﾟ ..+  
. ⋆ * .  
* . .･ . ･ .  
⊹ . * ✧  
˚ ..  
⋆ ･*･.･ .. ..  
* ⊹ *ﾟ  
･+ ･*✫  
.. . ⋆ ❅ ✫  
  
* . . ･ . ﾟ ⋆ *⁎̩͙ .  
･*･.･  
. ･ ･⊹ . ..+  
. ⋆ ❅ . 

✫. . ﾟ . ⋆* . ⋆ .

**ʷʰᵉʳᵉ ⁱˢ ᵐʸ ᵐⁱⁿᵈ?**

1:15 ───|────── 3:07

|◁ II ▷|

∞ ↺

▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ █ 100 %

**D A M O N**

**IT WAS OFFICIAL** , everyone had claimed Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon to be the most chaotic duo to ever grace the school. It was an honour really.

Apparently it wasn't much of an effort for them to achieve this, as about 50% of the school's damage last year was narrowed down to some manic havoc that had been a chain reaction of the two getting bored. Although it's important to note that the incident on the school trip to the West Country was an accident, and no one would willingly let those goats out, not even for a laugh.

Through no other delusion from whatever charming madness had winded them, it seemed that nothing could ever catch the two that run through their life with no time, no past, no future, just this moment. Nothing was forever, and that was the only thing that would be everlong. There was no infinity for Damon Albarn, and that was the way he liked it. _I'd like to thank the academy._

Well that was before, before her.

  
You see, you've met him at a very strange time of his life, as before he was able to fall through his life without a map or a compass, with everything within one moment, within one mixtape, one song.

Before everything became her. Nothing before ever mattered, not anymore, because now, she was the only infinity.

She seemed to within a summer and everything that breathed around her seemed to run alongside the cold winder. She had daydreams of the world as silouettes, dancing and crying and laughing together, in pairs as they held each other. And it often occured to her that she was without any sense of that wonder, laying alone in the wirlwind of her life, like a lost paperplane, dizzy in the night sky with only one star.

It glistened and faded in the reflection of the eyes of some other that she was unsure she would ever find. Nya Eze often drifted through her life, feeling like she didn't have a light to cast shadows of infinity her life and it would daze and wind her in the proxmity of the notion that her life had brcomr entangled in a mixtape, a messy and infatuating mixtape that would paint over the way she saw everything around her with bristles of hope and would project her daydreams onto reality.

The music started somewhere, it must've done as the mixtape resting Damon Albarn's palm, meant nothing before last night, when it was blank and held nothing but a few books and scraps of sheet music that were placed ontop of it. It meant nothing until last night, when he was tangled in his duvet and own puzzle of wonder, unable to sleep until he gave up and rolled out of bed, and searched for the empty cassette.

Everything was a blur, a blur swirled out of existence, within this infataution that had consumed him. He had broke the case of the cassette, and pulled out the tape, surrendering himself to her infinity as he re-loaded the tape with another song. He let the music drift outwards into his room, with a hollow and deep bass that created another heartbeat within him.

He had fallen deep, deep within her song, he waited in anticpation to hit the floor, to hurt, but instead he was completly submerged in the soundtrack, sinking to the bottom of a senseless depth of euphoria.

  
And now, there he stood, completely lost, with the only compass being the mixtape he made last night in his hands. He leaned against the wall, his heart thundering through his chest, in a thunderstorm of anxiety. The cassette became molten electric upon his hand, causing him to almost drop it. But then it all stopped, everything, fading into echoes, whispers and then nothing, as he felt her presence before she arrived, laughing, proper wheezing at whatever the girl giggling next to her, Willow, had said.

There was an odd projection of heat that brushed across his cheeks as his head finally met up with his heart and he realized what he was doing. He shook his head and recomposed himself, his gaze drawn to her once again as she screamed in shock when none other than, Liam Gallagher, had made her jump by tickling hersides from behind her. She stumbled to the floor through her pit of laughter, wheezing almost and screaming again when Liam picked her up again, placing her over her shoulders, spinning her around.

  
Damon sighed, looking back at the mixtape in his hands, making sure he hadn't damaged it in anyway before his feet began to drift froward, carefully. _Come on you daft tosser, quit your faffing around or you'll lose your mind._ See the issue was, Damon had fallen deep, almost drowned, unable to reach the surface to breathe, he struggled sometimes with words. Perhaps he worried that words didn't mean anything when spoken, words always felt better written down. In lyrics, in poetry, in books.

Because when you speak, you can make mistakes and sometimes people can't hear you. But when you write them down, only those who you want to, can see see who you are and how you feel.

It wasn't that Damon found it difficult to speak to people, but he had found another comfort in lyrics and writing, which allowed him to illustrate his heart the way it was crafted to others. So like a foolish side-character in a 90s rom-com, he had made a mixtape, the only way, he guessed, that he could explain that within the music that diluted the world around him, he thought of her, each lyric, words whispered, seemed to drifted and crafted from thoughts of her, it was more like they were made for her. All music was made for her.

_Stop dawdeling, you're gonna end up looking like a creep, radiohead will be sueing you._ Damon sighed, placing his headphones over his head, increasing the volume of his cassette. He needed music sometimes, well all the time really. He couldn't really function without it, but he wasn't always drawn to the melodies but the moreso, the words people say.

Which is why, after searching his pockets for any working pen, _for fucks sake,_ _where_ _do they run off to?_ He scribbled a small note on the back of the cassette. He felt she had a right to know, that he shouldn't hide it all from her, that all music was made for her.

**_You're a wonder._ **

  
The words imprinted themselves on the label of the cassette, before he dropped the pen back in his pocket.

He wasn't usually like this, this wasn't him. Having his breath stolen from him and his mind fallen off the deep end wasn't normal for him, he could usually run through his life in whichever way he wanted, nothing ever slowed him down before. Maybe he hadn't ever been left bewildered like this before, but he also knew that he couldn't just spend every moment just pining for her, not like he believed he ever even had chance, but he wanted her to know, that she was everything, a mystery, that held every star in the palm of her hand.

He sighed, his thumb tracing his own handwriting. _'Where is my mind?'_ Damon had no idea, it was wherever she had taken it, and Damon wasn't sure he wanted it back. He looked around him cautiously.... _Great, nice one, you look like a nonce,_ and pushed it through the gap between the lockers, waiting for it to hit the bottom before continuing on his way, walking back down the corridor.

Damon was quickly dragged out of his anxiety by a comforting arm that rested lazily around his shoulder, bringing him close to the taller boy, with dark hair and comically large glasses. "Morning Day" Graham Coxon said, "I've got a mission"

Damon smirked. "Oh...really? I knew it, I knew you were an M15 agent, wait am I your partner or hostage? If it's the latter, I need to change my clothes" He said and Graham laughed. "Wait, are you gonna kill me? If so, I have a very specific way I intend to go out..."

"Jumping out of an exploding plane, I know, I know" Graham said, Damon smiled. "Well, you're not that important mate, you may be neither" Damon elbowed him in the stomach

"S'cuse you, _I am_ the mission Gra" Damon declared.

"Eh, I guess" Graham said, thinking for a moment before snapping his fingers "I've got it, you're the fit lass who's works for the bad guy and wears red"

"Damn right I am...and red is my colour" Damon said sarcastically, causing the two of them to burst out laughing as they walked through sixth form. "...wait doesn't she usually die?"

Graham nodded and Damon rolled his eyes. His gaze being caught by _her_ , once again and always, she was standing on one of the tables, using a pen as light saber as she battled Liam Gallagher, in the BBC TWO version of Star Wars.

She lost her weapon when Liam hit it, it flying across the room, and hitting the head of lower sixth, Mr Davis in the head, causing Nya to push Liam off the table before she jumped off the two running away from their crime scene, holding hands and laughing.

"....which is why we'd have to do Saturday's as well, but no one can get Alex out of bed until after teatime..." Graham continued to plan next to Damon who had only just fallen out of her. "Day....are you listening?"

"'Course" Damon mumbled, watching as she faded out into the distance. Graham frowned, knitting his eyebrows together, before leaning down to Damon's height and followed his eyeline with curiousity.

"I stole the Curly Wurly from your bag" Graham said, pushing the bridge of his glasses back up his nose.

"Yeah I agree" Damon mumbled, and Graham tried very hard not to laugh, well it wasn't like his best friend we'd even notice. He continued on a streak of obserdity, with less sense than a perfume advert. Personal highlights included:

"I fucked your mum"

"Yeah, been there"

"Vinegar tastes good on chips"

"Hm, Yeah"

Graham sighed, a bright smile escaping his lips as she laughed. "Dayyyymonnn" Graham complained, exaggerating his vowels as he rested his head on his shoulder.

"What?" Damon asked, and his best friend rolled his eyes.

"You've got a problem mate" He observed. "You've fallen way too deep...you could, you know just a suggestion here, call me mental but...try talking to her? Instead of just standing there staring like a nonce"

A deep blush was brushed across Damon's cheeks, as his gaze averted away from Graham's. "You what?"

"You're not subtle whatsoever..." Graham said, finding this incredibly amusing.

Damon sighed, giving in easily, knowing that lying to Graham would be as effective as lying on Jeremy Kyle. "I've let her know" Damon said quietly, placing his hands in his pockets as he hastily left sixth form.

Graham ran behind him again. "What's that suppose to mean?" He asked, and Damon struggled to find the words. "Well whatever you did, at least you didn't leave an anonymous love letter or summat like a daft tosser" Damon stopped, and turned to face him slowly. "...tell me you didn't actually..."

"No?" Damon tried, his voice pitching like he had just inhaled helium again. "That was someone else who looked very much like me"

Graham frowned, "Thought your twin brother died in a fire after it was definitly him who snapped by guitar string and not you" He said and Damon smirked.

"For all you know I am the twin brother" Damon said omniously, with a small shrug.

"And the plot thickens...." Graham said, looking to his side, pretending to stare deeply into what he imagined was a camera if this were a episode of Corrie. "All this and more answered in season two"

Damon laughed, but all air was stolen out of his lungs, when his gaze was captured by her, running through the corridor, the less tolerable Gallagher chasing her as she held his tie up high truimphy, attempting to climb another table to tripped over, pulling him down with her as she landed on the floor in a fit of giggles.

"You're unhelpable" Graham laughed, wrapping his arm around the shorter boy and brought him close to him, ruffling his hair. "Just actually try talking to her, aye?" Damon rolled his eyes. "Right, well what I was saying earlier was that, we've got band rehersals on Sunday, it'll have to be after teatime...don't worry, I'll drive you, and try not to be too late again"

"That was only one time" Damon complained, Graham smirked.

"Yeah, and we're still buying damage costs. Alright you mug, let's get going" Graham said, tugging his arm. "We don't want to skive form, Miss can't bare to be without me"

"She despises you" Damon said, and Graham placed a hand to his heart.

"How dare you" Graham said dramatically "She loves me really, where would she be without me?"

Damon rolled his eyes, jumping a bit to pull his best friend's hood over his head, causing him to stumble into him, laughing as he tackled Damon to the floor. "Alright, alright..." He said between breathes of laughter. "She's gonna love us even more now that we're...well fuck, we've skived it"

"Well, at least nothing can get much more messier than this" Graham said.

There was a loud crash, and the two boys sat up quickly, and looked around the corridor, to where two doors had fallen off theit hinges. "You two are dead" The head of lower sixth declared from the other side of the fallen doors, pointing at the two boys in question who had almost forgotten about the whole, removing the screws from about 2/3rds of the doors in the school, they got bored after about 10.

"Run way to Durham and never return?" Graham asked, as Mr Davis began to advance towards them.

"Yep" Damon said, the two scrambling up to their feet as they ran through the corridor, stumbling a little bit as they ran out of the school, the six foot nine devil on their heels as they tried to outrun the mess they made.

Graham nicked the first bike he saw, pulling it out of the racks and begin to pedal as Damon jumped on the back. "Go, go, go" He shouted, leaning his back against Graham's as he watched the figure shrink and the school fade away from them. He cheered, giving the head of lower sixth two fingers as they abadonned the scene of the crime.

"Chippy?" Graham asked.

"Course" Damon said, leaning back and resting his head against his best friend's shoulders, his tattered converse swaying above the ground and casting dancing shadows on the concrete below him.

A small smile escaped his lips, his eyes fluttering close when her silouette jad appeared on the ground, beneath his eyes, the world was unfolding like a film projector, and he couldn't reach to stop it or change it, her silouette dances infront of the projector, her shadow drifting infront of the film screen of his life, and couldn't see any more, and he didn't want to.

'Where is my mind?' He had no idea. He knew she had taken it, but where she had hidden it, he had no idea, but all he knew was that he was falling without it, he wanted his mind back, because it was with her, and that's where he wanted to be.

He placed a mixtape into his Walkman, letting the Smiths drown out the world around him, it was all a mess. A beautiful and dizzing mess, but it was one that kept a soft light glowing in the distance, closer but further away than a setting sun.

And then there he was, lost,with everything interwined with girl with a smile that held the universe together, and soul of a perfect mixtape.


	2. ►Track Two

˚ * ⋆  
˛ * ⭒ ✺  
･ *･ﾟ: * ❅ ✧   
･ ･ ..✹ ✧..   
. *✫ ⋆*❅*•̩̩͙ ﾟ ..+ ⋆  
  
⋆ * . * .   
. ･ . ･ . * .   
. ･ ･ + . ⋆** ﾟ ..+  
. ⋆ * .  
* . .･ . ･ .  
⊹ . * ✧  
˚ ..  
⋆ ･*･.･ .. ..  
* ⊹ *ﾟ  
･+ ･*✫  
.. . ⋆ ❅ ✫  
  
* . . ･ . ﾟ ⋆ *⁎̩͙ .  
･*･.･  
. ･ ･⊹ . ..+  
. ⋆ ❅ . 

✫. . ﾟ . ⋆* . ⋆ .

**ᵗʰᵉ qᵘᵉᵉⁿ ⁱˢ ᵈᵉᵃᵈ**

1:15 ───|────── 3:07 

|◁ II ▷| 

∞ ↺ 

▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ █ 100 %

**NYA**

**BEING IN LOWER SIXTH** had a number of drawbacks: still having to wear uniform eventhough the Grammer school didn't, the central heating that blazes all summer and cuts off all winter, the fact they stopped getting funding years ago and A-level textbooks are about 30 quid, cheers Thatcher, the one computer seemingly frozen in time. But there were more perks. It's even more of a laugh than Year 11 science, no PE and every morning, while Nya waited for the broken computer to scan her books in the library, she got to tell jokes to Oliver Twaddle. 

Or rather, she got to tell jokes at Oliver Twaddle. While Oliver Twaddle blinked at her

  
Oliver Twaddle worked the morning shift in the library, every other day. He was a bit of puzzle, but an aboslute gem. Nya wasn't sure how he got his job exactly, but she knew he went to Eton, which again was another mystery for another day. She'd never met one before, a toff, not until Oliver, which was an odd scenerio as he was lovely...even if he most probably had pictures of the Queen and Thatcher in his home and was defintitly a tory.

"Paddle!" She cheered as she opened the library door, running up to him and resting her arms on the desk.

"Morning trouble" He said with a kind smile as he tried to find the end of a sellotape...using a paper clip to do so.

"So," She began, "there are these two strips of tarmac in a bar..."

Oliver blinked, placing his paper clip down. "Strips of tarmac?"

"Yes." She confirmed.

"Are you sure? That doesn't seem to make much sense." He observed.

"Just go with it. So there are these two strips of tarmac, and one says to the other, 'Aye, I'm so hard. All these lorries roll over me, and I don't even feel it.' Then, just as he's finished talking, this piece of red tarmac walks in. And the first piece of tarmac gets up, and runs away, and hides in a corner. And his mate goes over to him and says, 'What are you doing? I thought you were supposed to be hard.' And the first piece of tarmac says, 'Yeah, I'm hard, but that bloke's a cycle path.'"

There was long silence.

Oliver blinked again. "Why is he frightened of cycle paths? Did he get into an accident?" He asked as she passed him her book to return.

"No, it's that he's hard, but the other bloke's...a cycle path." She tried again with a smile and he frowned again.

"Yes, but why is he frightened of cycle paths?"He asked. Sometimes Nya lost sight of whether this was her hobby or a punishment she was inflicting on herself.

"No, it's a pun, Paddle. Because 'cycle path,' if you say it fast and in a sort of Cockney accent, sounds a bit like 'psychopath.'" She said slower, hoping that it wasn't her strong Geordie accent that was causing confusion again...it would've been the sixth time this week if it was.

"Oh." He thought about it for a moment or two. "I'm not sure it does, actually."  


"You're right, Paddle. I'll do better next time" She said and he finished scanning her book, putting it back on the trolly. "Have a lovely day...and aye, keep an eye out for the year sevens, young'uns just started on the fags, keep causing fires 'cause they never put them out properly"

"Will do" He said with a salute and Nya laughed, mirroring his action. "Hey, good look with your music exam"

She placed a hand to her heart. "I'll need a miracle" She said, picking up her books, and left Twaddle on his own, which she hoped wasn't violating the school's risk assessment. 

She kept her head down as she wandered down the corridor, watching her knackered converse hit the floor, the wild thoughts of her mates kept a small smile on her lips, doodles of their souls, with ❛ 𝙇𝙞𝙖𝙢 𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙂𝙤𝙙❜ scrawled handwriting on the tip of her toes as she tried to memorise her music theory notes in her hands, every movement slowing through the sombre propeller of fear. The only thing that could keep her distracted was the messages at the back of the CGP books.

But that fear diluted as soon as she saw a _**'caution cleaning in process'**_ sign. Nya slowed down, taking a moment to look either side of her, before moving the sign and using the spotless surface to slide on the floor, like she was six years old in Tesco again...or like it was last week. 

  
Her arm was quickly captured as she was spun around, whirled on her heels embroided with ' _ **Banksy**_ ' from Noel's hand, like she was on Dancing On Ice, tragically as it would turn out she'd be on the Gag Reel or deleted scenes as she slipped and landing in the arms of her best friend who laughed. "Carefull there" Mai laughed, and Nya grinned standing up right so she could give her a hug. "Mornin"

"We're gonna have to run away and change our names again love, I'm going to fail this fucking music exam, I think the name Jess will suit me, but I think that's Postman Pat's cat" Nya said.

"We have to, I'm going to get fired." Mai declared dramatically. "We got a new YA author, and we decided to add some pull quotes on the covers right, recommending it to fans of a more famous YA author . So we put it on all the posters, and covers, it's too late to change any of it. The more famous author was Philip K. Dick. And the pull quote was 'If you like Dick, you'll love this.' No one spotted it until we started getting extremely disappointed reviews"

Nya laughed, wrapping her arm around her best friend's shoulders. "Just out of curiousity, how are the sales?"

"Surprisingly good, actually. I think it might have crossover appeal." She said, "I'm going to be fired"

Mai didn't stay last GCSE, instead of wasting her life learning Bach's seventh symphony, she worked in publishing, but still turned up to school often because she didn't want to be seperated from her friends or chaos of being in sixth form. 

"No one is going to fire you, you daft bellend" Nya said, laughing as she leaned her head against her best friend's shoulder. "You're too brilliant"

"That I am" Mai said, giving Nya a quick kiss before she waltzed over to her own locker.

Nya checked her notes carefully, knowing very well there was no way she could actually learn the pieces twenty minutes before her exam.

She wasn't even looking when she pressed her key into her locker and unlocked it, crouching down to pick up the shoe that fell from the shelf, something small hitting her head as she did so. She laughed as she stumbled back a little and brought herself back up to her feet as she picked up the small cassette that had landed on her head. She observed it carefully, unsure whether or not she had intentially nicked this or if it was hers to begin with.

She turned it over, and then nothing. The faint morning light that could slip through the grey clouds, began to soak the room in a soft golden coat, like a fading vintage record.The sunlight kissed the ink that sunk deep into the dusted cassette, the words, the pictures within are embraced with the bright light, heartfelt colours. Each word, letter cursed with that ink was slow, with every drop of ink sinking and burning into her skin, as she traced them with the tip of her finger.

**_You're a wonder._**

  
With the sun in her heart, her mind began to fall into a rush of euphoria, a smile brushed across her lips, like a million stars in the night sky, that i wished on over and over again, sparkling and broken.

She almost dropped her Walkman as her trembling hands searched her bag. She frowned when she couldn't find her headphones...because of course, today was going to be the day she would forget them. She bit her lower lip, peeling back a lose bit of dry skin as her feet fidgeted and faffed around. Her sunken heart was caught again when her gaze was captured by a figure on the otherside of the corridor, one bright and full of energy, that could power the whole world and fill the universe with stars.

"Liam" She called as she ran up behind him and jumped at his back, the tattered sides of her shoes, carved with **_'insert deep indie lyrics'_** in Mai's hand wrapped around his waist as she kissed him, well missing and pecking his chin instead. He wrapped his arms around her back, laughing as he pulled her forward so she was facing him, she brushed his dark hair out of his eyes, that was and wisped in random directions.

"'Ello you...alright?" He asked and she nodded, his dark eyes falling into hers, the kind of darkness that you didn't mind being surrounded by, the kind of darkness which is required to allow dreams to thred through and stars to shine, his smile was even better. "What can I do you for, love?"

"For you, no price" She teased and he laughed, "You got your handphones on you?"

"Yeah" He said, his free hand reaching for his jeans pocket and placing a pair of headphones infront of her, resting the wire around her neck, like a necklace. "And you said I weren't with the fashion lot...oh wait, hang on..." He pulled his hat of his head and pulled it over hers, purposefully covering her eyes and she laughed. "...there you go, perfect, don't break them"

She jumped down, the knackered soles of her yellow converses, imprinted with doodles from Graham Coxon hitting the floor softly. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'll try me best" She said, hoping that both headphones worked, nothing was worse than only one working whilst the other ear was burdoned with a silence.

"You'll be fine in the music thing, it's all bollocks anyway" He called after as she began to wander through the corridor. She span around and placed her hands to her heart, hyperbolically, before blowing him a kiss. The headphones slipped comfortably over her ears, and her Walkman fell into her pocket, everything before the play button wasn't real anymore and everything after never would come.

  
The opening riff flooded through her eardrums, soothing under her skin...spiralling in a exotic trance, laced with a molten aura melting through the ice in her bloodstream...leaving traces of electricty as it did so. 

  
Her fingertips brushed the banister as her feet drifted up the stairs and tightened once she reached the top, as she swung around. The ghost sirens that rushed over the soft strumming pattern, swept her feet from the ground causing them to slide, slip and spin. Her heart grew, as everything spiraled with the music and her body.

Twaddle didn't even raise an eye at the smaller silouette drifting and dancing through the library. She fell back, landing on the carpet, her gaze caught on the ceiling as the words joint the music, drifting through her. She wasn't always drawn to the melodies, but the moreso, the words people say. ♪ _ **With your feet on the air and your head on the ground**_ ♪

Her feet raised upwards, meeting the lyrics as the **_'Willow ♡'_** print on her heels, rested on a bookshelf. She didn't fall for what people said, but mainly the way they say it. She knew how words worked, how people manipulated them, how they lied to her. But the words fell differently when they were sing, it was like everything that ever was, ever will be, crafted themselves from the heart of whoever left this mixtape, slipping past their lips into her mind. ♪ ** _Your head will collapse, but there's nothing in it♪_**

A loud thud brought her out of her daydreams, and turned her head to the side, presuming Twaddle had stabled himself to the table again. She brought herself back up to her feet when she realised he wasn't another victim of his own clumsiness, and wandered over to the source of the sound, climbing the lower shelves of the bookshelves to see the accident that hopefully she could film to get 200 quid from _You've Been Framed._

The boy behind the books, seemed to hide from most things, behind a bookshelf, behind his messy hair that brushed over his eyes. It was although he had drifted straight out of a snapshot from the past. He resembled a dream of a vintage record, one with low saturation and more grey hues than anything.But when the record turned,the darkness was embedded with a constellation of colour, stars enriched in vibrant tones, planets dissolved in a captivating palette and an aurora locked in place by blended neon starlight and slashed water colour, all smoothly embroided by a smooth, soft brush stroke.

She was curious and he made her music fade. His hands held desperately onto a stack of books that had clearly fallen from the shelf, he stumbled back a bit, as another fell and he tried to catch it. She tilted her head, so it met her arms that was resting on the bookshelves as he reached for another book, trying not to drop the others whilst he studied the cover of Shakespeare's _Othello_ , aka the only strange addiction that she didn't want to be cured from, _thank you very much Dr Phil._

"It'll break your heart" She said, the broken silence clearly making the disaster of a boy jump and drop all of the books, falling forward when he tried to catch them and into the bookcase, a few books landing in him, luckily only Horrid Henry books so they weren't too... _thick_ , or chunky so Motto Motto wouldn't approve. She tried not to laugh too loudly, _I swear your honour I did._ Before she could climb over the bookcase to help him, he sat up, looking a bit dazed. 

A bright colour tinted his cheeks, one from the fading sun, and it didn't fade when he began to speak. "W-What?" His voice cracked likea pitch bender from the keyboard's you'd fuck around with in music back in Secondary. 

She smiled softly. "The play" She confirmed and his bright eyes dropped down to the book on his lap. "It's a tragedy...they're beautiful but that's what breaks your heart" His gaze never left hers, his bright eyes never dimming, she tried not fall too deep in them, because all the bright things fade so fast, and never return. 

"I d-don't mind" He said, stumbling over his words, biting his tongue and closing his eyes, as if he regretted saying anything at all. "Already broken" 

She frowned, her heart falling and she couldn't catch it. "But what if I want to see you smile instead?" She asked and his cheeks only burned brighter, "Here, there are some brilliant prose in this one and you'll fall in love with Beatrice she's the funniest, and the wittiest with some renaissance form of banter, sometimes I can't tell if I love a story because it's good, or if someone I'm infatuated with showed it to me, it's like...you know they gave you a bit of their soul, summat that makes them happy and starryeyed, and they thought of sharing it with you, like their constellation and they gave you stars..." She rambled as she searched her bag, pulling out her copy of _Much Ado About Nothing_ She bit her lip, her cheeks burning. "Wait, sorry..."

She'd done it again, she knew it. She was rambling again, probably talking at the speed that the till workers at Aldi scanned the shopping and launched it at you, _Nya but every time she talks she speeds up 1.5×._ She spoke too much, too quickly, it was one of the reasons people found her so annoying, that and she had a loud-mouthed boyfriend who started fights for no reason. "Sorry. I-I'm rambling again...." _She felt like she was starting to sound like her essay's, needing some syrup because it was pure waffle._

Damon stood up, his arms resting on the bookshelf parrell to hers, resting his chin on his hands, seemingly still shaken but more comfortable. "It's fine..." He assured her and she smiled, passing him her knackered book, he picked it up carefully. "And I know what you're on about. Everything, all words, all music was made for someone" 

  
She gave him a small smile. A taller boy appeared behind him, with dark hair and glasses, he was grinning at something he had read "Damon you'll neve-" He stopped himself when his gaze met Nya's, he gave her an awkward smile before walking away, pretending to be very interested in the Roald Dahl books. 

  
_Damon_. Nya wasn't sure why she hadn't recognise him before, unable to put the name to the face, of course, she knew him, the very boy that Liam bitched about more than his brother, the one he hated the most, so naturally a perfect candidate for an enemies to lovers arc. She usually didn't mind, she knew Liam didn't like many people, but it never caused a problem between them. But Damon, Damon Albarn, was a different story. 

  
He was a puzzle. With wonky pieces, broken pieces, pieces from other puzzles and missing pieces. He could never decide what the picture will look like in the end and lost the box reference a long time ago and was just improvising wondering what the fuck the final picture would look like. And for whatever reason, it always had to involve a fight with the Gallagher brothers.

"Have you by any chance seen a bike?" She asked subtly, and Damon, tilted his head to the side, confused.

"What?" He asked. 

"A bike" She repeated, her fingers tapping against the shelf like a broken scale. "A blue bike...it sort of has wonky handlebars? Me boyfriend's bike got nicked yesterday, usually he wouldn't be too upset but his brother Noel sort of got him it and set it up, means a lot to him and it got nicked...you seen it by any chance?" 

Damon's eyes widened. "Liam...Liam Gallagher's bike got nicked?" He repeated and Nya nodded. "And it's definitely blue?" She nodded again and Damon looked like he was going to be the next patient in Casualty. He looked back at Graham who stopped laughing for a moment when he seemed to realize something, it was at this point Nya was convinced that people could definitely read each others minds. 

Damon gave a concerned glance at the taller boy behind him, the two clearly communicating an argument via charades, Nya paid attention closely, hoping to acquire the skill so she could improve talking to Mai in inappropriate situations, so there wouldn't be a repeat of the funeral incident last year. Damon clearly lost the argument. "Oh we've seen that, in fact we were the ones that-" Graham said casually, causing Damon's cheeks to burn and for him to turn around, throwing a book at his best friend. 

"Erm...could you tell me where you saw it?" Nya asked, "I mean, a fiver that it were a year seven, but I can't really be doing o'wt 'bout them right now, not after the whole pyramid scheme shit" _It was a long story._

"Damon can" Graham said with a small smirk, causing the boy next to him to drop the last book in his hand, Graham sipped his tea, clearly amused with himself. 

"Remind me to never pick you as a partner in any hypothetical bank robberies" Damon muttered to his friend, he turned towards her, attempting a smile "I can't really describe it...I'd have to show you, shame we can't-"

"Brilliant, you're an angel, let's go" Nya said, with a bright smile, putting her bag on her back and walking towards the door, Graham laughed, resting his arm on Damon's shoulder, pushing him forward. "Thanks Graham, see you in orchestra" She said and he gave her a small wave, as she advanced towards her own version of a low budget BBC crime series. 

Cue the pink panther theme song, she guessed.

**ᵃ ᶠᵉʷ ᵃʷᵏʷᵃʳᵈ ᵐᵒᵐᵉⁿᵗˢ ˡᵃᵗᵉʳ...**

Damon seemed nervous as he walked, his fingers figeted in his pocket and he often looked distracted, staring up at the sky rather than anywhere he was going. "It was just around here..." He said, looking either side of him as they walked around the pavement, Nya balancing on the side of the curve, her arms out trying not to fall onto the road whilst Damon tried not to look too worried. As they wandered through the streets towards the crime scene, through the awkwardness her mind fell through another daydream as she lit a cigarrette. 

𝙲𝙰𝚂𝙴 𝙵𝙸𝙻𝙴: 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚒𝚔𝚎  
𝙳𝙰𝚃𝙴: 𝟸𝟿/𝟿/𝟾𝟾  
𝚂𝚄𝚂𝙿𝙴𝙲𝚃: 𝙳𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚕𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚗  
𝙱𝙸𝙾𝙶𝚁𝙰𝙿𝙷𝚈: 𝙾𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚙𝚘𝚙 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜, 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐.

"Huh, it was right here...I swear on my mum" He gestured the road, where a few cars rushed passed. 

"You saw it on the the middle of the road..." Nya noted and he nodded as the two of them observed the crime scene. "And you're surprised it isn't here now?" She asked and Damon thought for a moment. "...must be foulplay, I suspect aliens" This reminded her of a case she worked back in 1929...too much? She didn't think so. "Either way, we'll solve it"

Damon smirked. "Ok, Detective, what's the theory? No clues, no leads and your only witness was completely usless despite being charming" He teased. _And a prime suspect._ She couldn't help but smile as a warmth pooled through his more relaxed smile, one the creased his nose and lustred his eyes. 

"He's a completely charmless man..." She said and he placed a hand to his heart, pretending to be offended. "...but he's alright company", a soft rose tint flooded his cheeks and he looked away, across the road.

Nya thought for a moment, twirling a braid of her hair around her finger, her teeth sinking into her lower lip. She crossed the road, a few cars stopping and beeping at her as she did so, she just gave them a small smile and even climbed over a few of them. She crouched down, her hands wrapping around a handle bar that was burried within a bush. With a struggle, she lift it up and presented it to Damon, who looked like he wanted to figure out how to spontaeously combust. 

"Case closed" She said, with a slight amusement in her voice, flicking her cigarrette and exstinguishing it with her foot. 

"Well fuck"He said "I'm really sorry, like really, I didn't know, I shouldn't have just left it. Ugh Gallagher will bash my head in" 

Nya shook her head "Aye, nah he won't do o'wt" She reassured him. "He probably nicked it first and aye, he's not the sort to hold grudges" 

The two of them both burst out laughing "I'm a dead man, I might as well plan my own funeral now" Damon said bluntly. 

"Aye, you best be inviting me, so I can be wearing a suit and sunglasses in the distance...holding an umbrella and disappear after checking me watch. Just to add that element of mystery" She said and Damon laughed the two of them walking down the pavement, with a broken bike between them. 

"Definitly" He said and thought for a moment "I'm sorry for wasting your time" 

She stopped walking, her hand resting firmly on the handlebars. "You didn't" She assured him, bringing a cigarrette to her lips, lighting the end and offering him one  
The flickered flame from his lighter ignited the end of her cigarette, echoing the starlight that traces the brimes of Damon's eyes. She leaned forward and set a flame the end of the cigarrette that rested between his teeth with hers. "I like being somewhere else" 

She put one of her headphones in, resuming her music, the cassette wiring and the melody burying beneath her chest, becoming an external heartbeat, she studied the bike once more "I mean...I don't think it's too bad, maybe he won't even notice" Nya said, hoping to make the older boy feel a little better, she knew Liam didn't need another reason to bash Damon Albarn's head in, he despised him. "It's given it a sort of charming appeal to it, like a rustic chic, vintage look" 

  
"Ah I guess so" Damon muttered, exhaling, small smoke clouds drifting away with his breath. "It would probably do well in Top Gear"

"It'll break as soon as anyone sits on it" She assured him, laughing as he gave her a challenging glance and climbed onto the bike, the handle bars twisting in unhealthy ways, with each spin of the peddle crunching and the seat almost falling off, he pushed forward. She tried to hold onto the bike to stop him from falling when it inevitably broke, but her greatest efforts weren't enough as it turned out she had the strength of one of those plastic toys you got in a magazine as a young'un. 

She wished for a moment that she wasn't so dazed, that she could easily just tell him she had to leave and she knew very well what he had done, that stealing Liam's bike was the least she cared about. He had this charm, one that made you forget all the awful shit he had done in the past, it wouldn't last long, when moments would grow and fade and she remembered. His motives were tainted towards his desire to get back at Liam, and everyone of Liam's past girlfriend's, he had purposefully stolen, only to throw away the next day. She knew to be cautious with this one.

The handle bars gave in, causing the bike to crumble and Damon to fall, althought Nya did break his fall, it still hurt a bit when the two fell onto the concrete, in a bubble of giggles. She pulled him up once she was up on her own feet, although he didn't seem to ever want to leave that moment. 

As the two drifted past another allyway, her music grew louder and her bag dropped from her shoulders. She picked up the canister of paint from the floor, there was a rush of excitement to painting on a broken wall, a stripped canvas. A brush of vibrant sensations sinking into a blank slate. Just by the motion of her hand, she was able to create something that wasn't there before. Scrawled letters etched onto the battered wall, projecting from the electric wirlwind within her mind, deepening the tones over the broken bricks, it all stringing together as : **MODERN LIFE IS RUBBISH.**

Damon stared at the measy artwork, the tips of his fingers tracing the letters with facinisation as if he was lost beneath the paint embers that escaped her mind. 

"Oh shit...I guess running away now" She said, dropping the cannister after she checked her watch, adjusting her bag on her back, "I have a music to cram and cry about before me exam" 

"Music? As in A-level?" He asked and she nodded. "Two of the Jazz pieces are almost identical, just are a semi tone lower .If you know one then, you'll know the other, four bars are just the inverse of the other...I was in year 12 once too" 

She thought for a moment "Ta...you're an angel" She said, as she ran over to the fence behidn them, and picked out a random motorbike. 

"Do you even know how to ride that?" He asked, amusement apparent in his voice. She shook her head, giving him a cheeky smile . _Well maybe this was the story I'd be telling on Stupid Deaths_.

  
Her fingers tips wrapped around the handle bars as she sat on the bike, tilting it off the concrete and starting the engine. The vehicle thrusted forward at a frightening speed at first, hitting the postbox outside the newsagents. She laughed, pushing off again with more direction but no less chaos. "Try not to steal anymore bikes Damon" Nya called back at him and his jaw dropped when he realized she knew.

It wasn't often the universe let Nya out on the roads, let alone the drivers seat, but when it did, she treated the roads like fucking Rainbow Road. All fear or lust, were drowned by weaving dangerously across the empty lanes, she cheered loudly, stars blinking in her eyes as she swerved into several donuts, hitting the side of the railway and ignoring the wind that pushed her hair in her eyes. Driving fast, and alone, never in any purpose to fall into trouble, but always became what she was. 

Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, with her hair kissed and twirling in the wind as she tried to hide any thought of the theif with broken blue eyes, who's smile faded towards the sky melting with the sun into the darkness of the clouds. 

And when she dawdled through the school corridor later, her nerves faded once more, as fallen between the pages of her music notebook in her locker, another mixtape had hidden itself within the soft doodles and notes. 

_'you are another universe'_

♪ THE QUEEN IS DEAD ♪  
 _the smiths._

  
And suddenly no other moment was real.


	3. ► Track Three

  
˚ * ⋆  
˛ * ⭒ ✺  
･ *･ﾟ: * ❅ ✧   
･ ･ ..✹ ✧..   
. *✫ ⋆*❅*•̩̩͙ ﾟ ..+ ⋆  
  
⋆ * . * .   
. ･ . ･ . * .   
. ･ ･ + . ⋆** ﾟ ..+  
. ⋆ * .  
* . .･ . ･ .  
⊹ . * ✧  
˚ ..  
⋆ ･*･.･ .. ..  
* ⊹ *ﾟ  
･+ ･*✫  
.. . ⋆ ❅ ✫  
  
* . . ･ . ﾟ ⋆ *⁎̩͙ .  
･*･.･  
. ･ ･⊹ . ..+  
. ⋆ ❅ . 

✫. . ﾟ . ⋆* . ⋆ .

**ᵍᵒᵒᵈᵇʸᵉ ʸᵉˡˡᵒʷ ᵇʳⁱᶜᵏ ʳᵒᵃᵈ**

  
1:15 ───|────── 3:07 

|◁ II ▷| 

∞ ↺ 

▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ █ 100 %  
  
  


**DAMON**   
  


**NEARLY EVERY STRESSFUL MOMENT** in Damon's life could be saved by music. It was kind of a therapy, a really, really cheap but effective therapy. It was however, only ever effective when he had music that could speak for the situation, but suprsingly there was a lack of tunes in the ' _Whoops the lass I fancy knows I stole her boyfriend's bike'_ genre. So Damon's alternative method was to have an internal existential crisis instead. 

  
A motivational quote on the music room notice board, alongside the puns of **_'I knew you were treble when you walked in'_** and **_'Life without music would B♭',_** read **_'Make the music you want to hear'._** Brilliant, absolute class, only problem: band rehersals were becoming a a chatic visualizer that was wild enough to be narrated by David Attenbrough on the next season of Planet Earth.

"Hurry up Alex, finish that Wagon Wheel we don't have all day" Willow, Damon's ex-girlfriend said, she was their 'band manager' who in reality, just didn't want to be left out but didn't know shit about music. She flicked through her very organized notes. "Dave, why are you still in your pajamas?"

"Erm, I couldn't find any of my jeans...Alex hid them all again, he's made a treasure hunt and everything to find them..I'm half-way through clue six" He said, as he pretended to play Graham's guitar.

"It's almost as if you lot want Oasis to win the war on shitty music and bad haircuts" Willow said, causing all the sound in the room to fade. "It was a joke...a bad one"

"I'd rather fuck Mr Davies" Alex said bluntly.

"Well you may have to get some condoms, if you lot don't get on with it" She said, and all of a sudden everyone was very quick to begin playing again, the music flooding through the room.

Damon's heart stopped beating all of sudden, the bass pushing through his chest to save him, music breathing for him once more. The lyrics of **_'For Tommorow'_** flowed through his veins and swirled in his head as he attempted to numb his thoughts, his mind...her, his mind, the same, it was hers. Graham's strumming accelerated alongside with Damon's heartbeat, and he began to jump around, as he sang **_'Advert'._**

And within the music, everything was almost gone, they were all different people and they could do whatever they wanted, which is why Damon had decided to climb up on Alex's amp and jump off into a forward roll, before lying on the floor dramatically as he sang.

He wondered how she drfited through music beneath electrcity, she kept playing through his head on repeat, the soundtrack would never stopped. The main tracks: What music did she make? She took A-level music, she must play an instrument, but what? He considered whether she played the violin, or perhaps a guitar. Did she play with Liam? Was she mad that Damon had stolen that bike? Was it all a trap? Did she hate him? Of course she did, everyone did.

"Oi Damon" Graham said, dragging his bestfriend out of his internal monolouge in crisis. "We still got you, or should we be worried?"

Damon blinked a few times, realizing he had completley immersed himself in his head and had stopped singing all together, _a small gift to the rest of humanity._ When the music stopped, he was brought back into reality, the truth that he was nothing. And it always lead him to cling onto music, because he didn't want to be alone in his own thoughts. "Sorry" He said, brushing it off. "No idea where I was"

Dave laughed. "We all know, he was thinking about his bird" He said, causing a chain reaction of cheers and wolf-whistles to target him, he rolled his eyes, raising his arms in surrender as his cheeks burned.

"Nothing of the sort" He mumbled, hiding his crimson cheeks with his arm.

"Hey, that daydreaming will get us more songs" Willow teased. "Leave him alone lads"

After a few more terrible run throughs, with Damon messing up the words and Graham's inability to play his guitar that day, an early break was called. Although Damon knew why he was distracted, he was more concerned for Graham, who had fallen quiet and uncomfortable after Dave's confrontation.

"What's wrong Gra?" Damon asked, when the two were alone, wrapping his arms around his back to hug hin from behind and rest his chin on the taller boy's shoudlers.

"Nothing..." Graham said, but Damon always knew when he was lying, the two shared the only three brain cells they had, he nudged the taller boy, who sighed. "It's just...of all people, why her? She's with Liam, the last thing we need is another reason for him to bash our heads in and...I'm just not really convinced..."

"What are you trying to say?" Damon asked, trying to hide his hurt but knew he couldn't hide anything from Graham.

The guitarist sighed, "It's just...this isn't first time, and you've never always had the best intentions..." He confessed, reluctantly, rubbing the back of his head. "Why is it always heartbreak Day? Why can't you ever out run it?"

Damon swallowed, his chest tightening. "This is different...this has nothing to do with..." He tried but his Graham didn't look convinced.

"Look, Liam's a daft bellend, I don't know why she likes him but she does...and that's her choice, not yours. There's something that keeps them happy and it's each other, " Graham said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Just...whatever you do, don't hurt her..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Damon asked and Graham rolled his eyes, giving him a knowing look. "Why has this got you so bothered Gra?"

"Leave it" Graham said shaking his head, and Damon reached for his hand, he tried to give him an innocent look but he had a feeling he just made himself look constipated. Graham sighed. "Just, stop breaking hearts Day...the shards of other people's hearts won't heal yours"

Damon's heart sunk deep into his chest and he struggled to hold onto it. But before he could respond there was a sudden crash, bringing Damon back to reality, which was apparently more weirder than his thoughts as Alex was on his back on the floor, an amp fallen beside him and his bass on top of him and paint everywhere.

He sat up, brushing his fringe out of his eyes. "Fucking Eze!" He muttered, coughing a little at the smoke coming out of the amp, wafting it with his hand. He picked up one of his snapped bass strings with grief. "She's striked again"

"What does that put you on?" Dave asked laughing.

Alex sighed, reluctantly taking a notebook out of his bag, wiping paint off his forehead with his sleeve. "Nya 37, Alex 35" He said, Graham laughed loudly as Damon and Dave cheered, picking up their defeated bass player onto their shoulders, a sarcastic throne for the reluctant Alex.

Alex had been in this sort of conflict with Nya for years. It probably started in food tech when he 'accidently' spilt flour all over her, but it seemed a little convient as it was straight after she had accidently walked into him making Alex drop all of his cupcakes. After that it was a never ending series of getting back at each other, paint in each other's bags, gum on seats, ink in food. "That's it, these are the end days" He declared dramatically.

Before Alex could aggressively open the door, it beat him to it, swinging open and knocking him to the ground. He groaned, and rolled onto his side. "You..." Liam Gallagher entered like a storm, a short one in a parka but with lightning fused anger, he pointed at Damon, who looked either side of him. "...are dead"

Damon scowled at the tosser in the parka and bucket hat, but before he could make a sarcastic/petty comment Liam's fist collided with his face and knocked him to the ground, _well that escalated quickly._ "What the fuck was that for?" Damon groaned, sitting up slowly, only for Liam to kick him down.

"That's for nicking me bike" He said and Damon rolled his eyes, _such a drama queen._ Graham tried to push Liam away but recieved a similair smashed eye to Damon, Alex was too busy being dramatic on the floor and Dave was chanting on for a fight "And that's for burning me mam's knickers" He kicked him in the stomach. 

Damon laughed from the floor "Thought they were yours" He wheezed. To be fair, Damon thought setting the whole washing line on fire in a quick impulsive revenge plot after Oasis had booked to play at Villa Rosie, before them was a bit, execessive but it was still funny at the time. Damon couldn't say the lunch time detention the five of them recieved for starting yet another fight was exactly worth it.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


¸¸♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸¸♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸

Song Duration: Don't Speak _No Doubt_ 4:23   
Just What I Needed, _The_  
 _Cars_ 3:35. 

¸¸♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸¸♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
The music didn't help with his nerves, it somehow made it worse, as though she was hiding in music, waiting to sneak up on him. He walked through the library cautiously, his heart beating rapidly through his chest alongside the base line of the Beatles. _Come on Damon, don't be a plonker, just kindly return the book, don't say anything weird or stupid._

She lay on the floor, her feet dancing upwards against the booksheleves, a cassette tape resting on her stomach as she read a book in her hands, the end of her pen meeting the pages ever so often, undoublty to scribble down her thoughts or doodle.

She seemed completely unaware of everything else that drifted around her, as if they all faded outsite of the words within the words of the book, the title concealed by her paint covered fingers. "I'm not a hallucination" She said, her gaze never breaking from the book, making Damon jump again. 

"Erm...what?" He asked, his voice cracking. His cheeks flushed a colour that constrasted with the grey drizzle, habitated in the sky _Brilliant, really smooth Damon, autotune that and we have another Smiths album._

"You're staring...like you're completely starshaped" She noted not even looking at him, her voice soft, despite the music in her headphones being loud enough for Damon's heart to burn with Elton John's voice. "You're not dreaming...or perhaps you are" 

"Oh, I was just staring at your book" Damon said his eyes retreating back to it's place at his feet, where it belonged whenever she was around. "I think I've read it that's all" He tried to brush it off, but overflowed with anxiety and shyness.

A small smile slipped through her lips, and she looked as though she was trying to suppress a laugh. She lifted the lifted the book up so he could read the title: ' _Women, Race and Class'_ by _Angela_ _Davis_. His face flushed crimson again and he looked away. 

"So maybe not" He mumbled, trying to think of another conversation starter, having a nervous feeling he was annoying her. He sighed, trying to remember what exactly he came for. "But I've been meaning to read it" He lied and with that she closed the book. 

"Then go ahead" She said, her legs falling back to the ground and she sat up, crossing her legs before she threw the book for Damon to catch. He stared at her, confused. "I've already read it"

"Oh" Damon said. "Erm...t-thanks" _Brilliant, well done Damon, gold fucking star, you're an idiot and absolute-_

"Do I make you nervous?" She asked, tilting her head to the side and at was at this point that Damon realized his heart had officially stopped beating and she had stolen all of the air from his lungs. "I don't mean to"

There was a small comfort that flooded through him as he caught a glimpse of the cassette in her Walkman, it was his mixtape, the one he had left this morning and there was moment when he could breathe. "Course, I mean I was worried that you were a ghost, considering you would've crashed that motorbike" He said, the book in his hands no longer shaking when she smiled. 

"And I were to spend my days doing n'owt other than haunting a library, aye?" She asked with a small laugh, she leaned against the bookshelf. "If I were a ghost, I'd get back at Davies proper, also vocals of a ghost could make some calm harmonies, I'd record a concept album" 

  
"Ha, Oasis can help you with that, there music is dead enough as it is" Damon said, a force of habit. She stood up right,today she was wearing platformed boots so was around the same height as him, perhaps even taller. The intimidation was euphoric. 

"Nice try, but you need a hobby" She said, "Can't be slagging off people all the time" 

Damon smirked, "Well perhaps you'll give me one" He said, gesturing to the book as a cover, "Thanks again for this...I think I'll enjoy it, especially as it means so much to you" He froze, suddenly realizing how weird that sounded. 

The librarian, behind them, who looked like a toff, cleared his throat confirming it was as weird as he thought. 

"I just mean that...you know, I want to care for everyone, and I know you do too, so I figured that reading one of your books will help, I guess," He babbled on, probably making it a lot worse. "I don't even understand what I'm trying to say right now so I'll just shut up." He looked down at his shaking hands. 

She seemed to find this amusing "No it's calm, it's kinda cool you wanna know summat that concern other people." She shrugged and he smiled shyly "Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're cool in any way. Just the idea of someone purposely opening their eyes to oppression others face, even though they themselves don't have to face it, is calm" 

"Too late, you already said I was cool," He shrugged, smiling. "No takebacks." 

"Shut up," She laughed a little, shaking her head. 

He opened his bag to put the book in, but almost dropped it when he remembered what he was here for. "Oh, I almost forgot, but I have your other book" He said, almost dropping the book as he handed it to her, it fell into her hand softly, and she flicked through it, her grin only widening as she did so. It had taken Damon nearly all night to read, and even before that he had consulted to his old English teachers to help him understand it, and when he did, he couldn't stop smiling, falling for words. 

Her gaze met his. "Did it make you smile?" She asked, initating the very response she was curious about, he nodded with that stupid grin on his face. "Told you it's better if you did" 

"I loved it" He said. "You were right Beatrice was the best. I didn't know a dead man could make me laugh, apart from my Uncle in his funeral last year, he wanted to see if we'd be sad enough, scared the shit out of me. I can't believe they got married because their friends tricked them" 

Nya laughed. "It's brillant, stupid but brilliant" She said with a smile, tilting her head to the side as she scutinised him for a moment, Damon felt everything burn within him. This reminded him of when he was fifteen and he used to carry books about Marx so he could shag seveteen year old girls, now he was reading fucking Shakespeare and enjoying it. "I mean Shakespeare's made it clear that if I don't fake my death at least once...than I haven't been doing it right..."

"You know I have to ask, what would he the score for your dramatic death?" He asked and she thought for a moment. 

"Ah, i JusT dIeD iN yOur aRm tOnIgHt" She sang badly and dramatically on purpose, giggling

"iT mUsT oF bEen SoMeThInG yOu sAid..." He joined her, before laughing with her, his gaze fell deep within her again, but this time she noticed. 

"What?" She asked. He tried to think of something, anything that could hide him, anything reasonable. _Come one common sense, don't leave me now!_

"You write in your books" He said, biting his tongue, _one job, you had one job._ "I mean there's nothing wrong with that, but like a library book? And some people don't like bending or harming books in anyway"

"Did I offend you?" She teased and Damon's ears began to burn, yeah his ears, he was learning human atonomy because she was setting fire to his body and drinking the only water. 

"No! No" He said "I mean I would never damage someone else's or a library book. I meant nothing by it I was just curious that's all"

"Perhaps, or maybe you're trying to get into trouble" She said, bringing a ciagrrette to her lips, and lighting the end, Damon looked around him, but the librarian was too busy trying to unstable himself from the desk. "If I write them, then it's not technically stealing because it means it's mine now. And a lot of people do it, I mean...no one can really understand what Shakespeare's saying and I can't focus. My mind wonders around a lot, reading helps with that and by writting my opinions on the side or weird thoughts, it helps me focus my thoughts" 

Damon nodded "Well I found them interesting and kind of cool" He said before putting the book in his bag, considering whether jumping out of the window would be a dignified ending. He tried to think of something else to say, to dilute the awkward silence around them. "I'm sorry for nicking Liam's bike" 

_Oh well done, you daft knob._ "...And for punching him, well he started it first and..." He trailed of, clearing his throat. "I hope you're not upset about it" 

"I'm not the one you should be apologising to" She said, shrugging. Before he could respond a huge bang captured both of their attentions, he turned around to see to libarian on the floor, with the book trolly ontop of him and several book cases falling down. "Oh Twaddle, not again" She rab towards him and helped him up, saving him from drowning in books. 

It was at this point, that Damon realized that he was going to need more of a mixtape to get Gallagher to forgive him. What would he even put on a mixtape to Liam?   
Track 001: Burn Bitch Burn. 002: Danger Zone. He was getting ahead of himself.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


¸¸♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸¸♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸

Song Duration: Under my thumb rolling  
stones: 3.41  
Killer Queen, Queen. 2:49  
¸¸♬·¯♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸¸♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸

__

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"No, fuck off" Liam said, as soon as he opened the door, shutting it instantly. Damon rolled his eyes, placing his hand in the doorframe but that didn't stop Liam slamming the door into his hand. "Go away you cunt, or I will smash yer 'ead in" _Always the delightful sort._

Damon sighed, ignoring his stinging hand. "Gallagher open the door, don't be a little bitch" Damon tried and he heard the younger boy laugh. 

"Get over yer self Albarn" Liam said and Damon rolled his eyes. "If this is about your poof bass player call it returning a favour" 

"Gallagher we're both in bands we're all poofs, nothing wrong with that" Damon said tiredly, like he had grown up by ten years. "Look you're pissed about the bike, I get it, I'm trying to make amends"

He opened the door aggressively. "Yeah, you're just trying to make amends so you can try and nick me girlfriend again" Liam said between gritted teeth and Damon smirked. 

"Nah that sounds too long term" Damon said, his smirk being torn away from his lips my Liam's fist, something he should be used to by now. 

  
"Stay the fuck away from her" He said and Damon laughed from the floor.

"I don't think I will Gallagher" He said, whiping the blood from his mouth, sorry Graham. As soon as he sat up, Liam tackled him back to the floor again, punching him once more.

"Ok, ok, ok I get it-" He said, trying not to laugh, he really needed to stop getting entertained by antagonizing people. "I'm having a laff, alright, enough" He said, catching both of his wrists and pushing them away from him. "I know it's tradition, but I'm not after your bird"

"Don't call her that, her name's Nya, and she's everything" Liam said, and Damon almost wanted to make fun of him again but didn't.

"It was a bad joke, it's not my intention, I'm a changed man, Gallagher" He said placing a hand to his heart. "I'm eighteen now I'm too old to be fucking around, I shouldn't have fucked up your bike"

Liam studied him cautiously, not convinced and Damon wasn't expecting him to. "I know there's words coming out yer mouth but like, no idea what your saying, you know what I mean?" He said and Damon rolled his eyes. "Oi, not me fault that you talk like that"

"This isn't a game Gallagher, I was in the wrong here...which I know is a first" He said and younger boy rolled his eyes. "And I know it was shitty move, I know Noe..." Liam's eyes darkened, challenging him alomst to say his brother's name again, Damon chose not to. "And instead of my mates taking the shit for it, I'm making it even...I mean I can just take it and go-"

Liam cut him off. "Now hold on a minute George Michael" Damon said, crouching down to study the bike. "Alright, but I swear down if you've fucked it over with some southerner curse -"

He put his hands up in surrender. "Swear on my mum" He said. "No games, no lies" _just an excuse to talk to your girlfriend because I'm a vile person._

Liam lit a cigarrette, blowing smoke into Damon's face. "Alright, but...we're still playing at that pub on the weekend...not you" He said and Damon fained a smile. "Oh and in the following fortnight's...oh yeah, we sort of convinced them that it was you who caused that bar fight last week"

"Oh you bastard" Damon muttered before tackling Liam to the ground, the having a scrap like two pissed of cats.

"Right if you lads ain't quitting faffing 'bout, I'm going to see a film with Peggy" Nya said appearing out of no where, next to Liam's mum. "Or else the sexual tension may kill me" She stepped over the two fighting boys and disppeared into the distance.

Liam quickly jumped off of him, and Damon brought himself to his feet, brushing off the dirt from his clothes. "Just stay away, yeah?" Liam warned before walking back into his house.

As he dropped off his next mixtape, he was reminded of something that Graham hold told him when they were younger. That within music there was chaos, it wouldn't be there without it. To be make music you had to make mess, a beautiful mess. It was inevitable, music would break everything and re-imagine it all at the same time. Within the mixtape there was chaos, but he put it there on purpose.

Yeah, he was going to fall into trouble, but he'd enjoy every minute of it.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. ► Track Four

˚ * ⋆  
˛ * ⭒ ✺  
･ *･ﾟ: * ❅ ✧   
･ ･ ..✹ ✧..   
. *✫ ⋆*❅*•̩̩͙ ﾟ ..+ ⋆  
  
⋆ * . * .   
. ･ . ･ . * .   
. ･ ･ + . ⋆** ﾟ ..+  
. ⋆ * .  
* . .･ . ･ .  
⊹ . * ✧  
˚ ..  
⋆ ･*･.･ .. ..  
* ⊹ *ﾟ  
･+ ･*✫  
.. . ⋆ ❅ ✫  
  
* . . ･ . ﾟ ⋆ *⁎̩͙ .  
･*･.･  
. ･ ･⊹ . ..+  
. ⋆ ❅ . 

✫. . ﾟ . ⋆* . ⋆ .

**ᵗʰᵉ ʳᵉᵃᵖᵉʳ**

1:15 ───|────── 3:07 

|◁ II ▷| 

∞ ↺ 

▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ █ 100 % 

N **YA**  
  
  


**NYA LIKED TO THINK** , that if she ever got a musical written about her life, that this moment would be scored with a chaotic assemble of six-part dramatic harmonies alongside agressive dancing and incoherent screaming.

Because, this existential crisis of sudden morals through her internal conflict, needed some...orchestral support. So yeah, Lin Manuel Miranda, if you're reading this... ***wink wink, nudge nudge***

See her mind had divided in two, like two rivals, like Justine LittleWood and Tracy Beaker, the best example of course, the two sides constantly bickering. One side, she'd say Tracy, wanted to punch that light haired southerner in the face for starting yet another fight and a six-part book series of grievances she had with him, but the other side, Justine, wanted to thank him for fixing that stupid bike that meant so much to Liam. _The bare minimum._ She also needed her book back at some point, so talking to him again would be inevitable.

  
The soft rhythem of, Blue Öyster Cult, the latest mysterious mixtape accompanied Nya as she sat alone in the art room, hoping to hide from all things Britpop. Her paintbrush swept across the pallette, swirling together deep blue oceans and light blue skies, the paint waiting to aid in the composition of her next creation. The bristles the brush embraced the collected colours, lost in thought as her daydreams were etched onto the canvas.

"Ah yes...chapter seven in the Art Of War, famously outlines: To Defeat Thy Enemy, One Must Partake In Peaceful Painting Of Lezzas...To weaken the mind of their opponent" A familiar voice surprised her appearing out of of no where and she quickly dropped the paint brush that rested between her fingertips. "Nya here is a great example, as she slowly turns the canvas away from me, she's already securing villa Rosie for Oasis" 

She smirked. "Right after the chapter when you must watch your enemy paint" She said ans Damon grinned. "Wait we're enemy's now? No one told me, I'd have to update me Britpop Top Trump cards..."

"Yeah, but it's only accurate if my shoes size is bigger than Liam's...and musical talent" He said and Nya rolled her eyes, smirking, she brought the end of her brush to her lips and Damon's gaze followed her carefully. 

"Spoilers..." She said with a grin, cutting small pieces of paper and making up some stats and scribbling some poor sketches before passing him them. 

"Hey, why is my hair only a 9, it should be a 10" He said and she laughed, he brushed his hair out of his face. "Oh, I got a higher fashion stat than Liam...still low, I'm keeping this I'm flattered" 

She thought for a moment, her teeth sinking into her lip as she considered the thought that had been provoking her for a while. "Why do you think we were enemies? I know sometimes I come off as mardy, but that's me resting face" She rambled, having yet another existential crisis. 

He shook his head. "Oh I just pressumed, since that pub's been the battleground for the band war, I assumed you'd be on the otherside" He said shrugging, trying to hide his face beneath his hair. 

"What as some sort of mascot?" She asked causing a small smile to slip through his lips.   
"No, I don't want to end up in the crossfire, I'm on neither side, because I win the war on music" He laughed. 

"What do you play?" He asked curiously. 

"Mainly guitar" She said and he froze, looking like his heart had stop beating all together. "And if you ever need some mint church songs, that's where my musical talent resides" 

He grinned, a current of electrical fire sweeping towards her, everything that ever flooded through him seemed to be embedded with sunlight, glistening. "Perhaps, I will"

Nya brought the brush down to the canvas, allowing her reveries to take over, barely paying attention, as it danced across her forearm and hand, covering her paint speckled sleeves with a soft coat. "What are you even doing here? If it's only to piss off Liam...then you should just leave it, because, I want nothing to do with your little war" 

  
He shook his head, "Oh no, I came to return your book" He took out the book from his bag and placed it next to her. "I loved it, stayed up all night reading it" She looked up, the dark rings beneath his infinite blue eyes proving he wasn't lying. 

"It'll do that" She said the light waves she saw within her imgination, sinking into the paper. "Sometimes it's only visible in the dark, like stars" 

He nodded, resting his charm on his arms, when his gaze met his again, his cheeks burnt brighter than the scarlet paint on her brush. "I w-was just wondering...if I could b-borrow another" He stumbled on his words, almost needing subtitles Nya struggled to understand what he _said. Ha, if subtitles were an option in real life it would make things so much easier_ She thought. **[ᴰᴬᴹᴼᴺ ᶠᴸᵁˢᵀᴱᴿᴱᴰ ᴵᴺ ᴮᴿᴵᵀᴾᴼᴾ]**  
 **[ᴺʸᴬ ᶜᴼᴺᶠᵁˢᴱᴰ ᴳᴱᴼᴿᴰᴵᴱ ᴺᴼᴵˢᴱˢ]**

A smile creased the corners of her lips. "Am I your personal library now?" She teased and he laughed, "Don't worry, course you can" She passed him the next book in her bag, The Book Theif, Markus Zusak 

A smile creased the corners of her lips. "Am I your personal library now?" She teased and he laughed, "Don't worry, course you can" She passed him the next book in her bag, _The Book Theif, by Markus Zusak_

"Ta" He said giving her a shy smile, which she returned. She hoped the nerves that seemed pool within him whenever they were together would soon fade, she didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

She opened another bottle of yellow paint, but when she poured it, blue came out of it. Nya searched through her bag, taking out paint bottles and exhibiting them on the table, all of the colours conflicting the colour label, the last one exploding everywhere, covering the table and her clothes in green paint "Fucking Alex. That's why you're here?" 

"Eyewitness" He laughed, and Nya groaned. "So what does that put you on?"

She sighed, reluctantly taking out her notebook, opening the scoreboard and adding a tally underneath's Alex's name. "Nya 35, Alex 37" She read and Damon continued to laugh at her. 

He hesistated, before taking a seat next to her. She shifted the canvas a little closer to her as she continued to paint...it wasn't really much at the moment, she wasn't any good at art, she just liked blending colours, just liked painting bright pictures, it didn't matter if she was no good, it was fun. 

After a couple of minutes of staring at paints being mixed, Damon decided he was bored, so got up and brought some more paint that he could mess around with instead. 

"You know I'm actually a bit of an artist myself" He said, rolling his sleeves up before placing his fingers in the paint and pressing them against a piece of lined paper from his English book. He then picked up a pen and doodled on his masterpiece before signing his name next to it.

"For you, no price" He said using his elbows to pass her the painting, it was a small bee made from fingerprints. She'd pin it on her bedroom wall, when she got home. 

  
"I can't resist free stuff" She said placing it next to her "I'll have it framed" 

"Course, It'll end up in an art muesum" He said picking out a huge paintbrush and splatting paint on his paper, prickles of paint spitting on her cheek. 

"Hey!" Nya laughed, and he used his sleeve to wipe it off.

"I'm sorry" He said with a smirk "I'm more of a post-modern painter...people are my canvas" 

"I didn't realise you weren't like other girls" Nya teased, trying to hide a sly grin. When he turned around she armed herself with a paint brush and brushed his arm with blue paint, he turned around a gave her a shocked expression. 

"No you're right, yellow suits you more" She said unable to contain her smile this time, an expression which mirrored on his face. There was a moment of hesistation, wonder even...of who was going to strike first.

But it was Nya that took the chance of disaster, she grabbed her paint brush and began to flick the paint at Damon...who grabbed his, doing the same before he tried to stop her by using his brush as a sword as they fenced. With her spare hand, Nya picked up her paint pallette, pressing it against his shirt and he used his paint covered hands to attack her. 

The battle continued as Damon picked up a paint bottle and began firing it at Nya, trying to get past her shield which was an empty canvas. They contiued to upgrade their weapons, Nya had found an entire can of paint and poured it all over him before running out into the corridor to try and escape. But the fight continued there as they used the dripping paint on their bodies to flick it at each other. 

Damon caught up with her eventually and jumped onto her back, placing his painted hands all over her cheeks as she squealed and quickly shook him off.

The battle ended when Damon slipped whilst sprinting around the corner because his shoes were covered in paint, bringing Nya down with him. They lay on the floor for while, side by side unable to stop laughing. 

"If I ever feel like giving my wardrobe some adjustments, I'll let you know" He said laughing. "Does that mean my laff level goes up?" 

She laughed, picking out the piece of paper out of his pocket and adjusting the number, the pen slipping out of her paint covered hand. "You officially an alright laff" She said when she finally caught her breath "Well, at least my life can't get more messier than this" 

"Well that's where you're wrong" A voice boomed through the corridor and the two of them looked up to see the head of sixth, Mr Davies, who just looked weird upside down instead of intimidating, towered over them. 

"Detention both of you, tommorow after school...you'll be cleaning all of this up" He said and they both groaned.

"But sir, I think I've fractured my brain" Nya said deciding to pull the health and safety card: having a kid die on school premises never looked good.

"Don't care" He said, student welfare apparently being no interest to teachers. "And you'd actually have to have brain for that to work" He stepped over them probably to burn a cross or sacrafice a goat, but ended up slipping on the paint trail.

Damon helped her up to her feet. "Who can get paint prints on the weirdest place?" He suggested.

"Course" She said before the two of them ran down the corridor,which was difficult as they both kept slipping on the paint. 

**ᵃ ˢᶜʰᵒᵒˡ ᵐʸˢᵗᵉʳʸ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʳᵃⁱⁿᵇᵒʷ ᶠⁱⁿᵍᵉʳᵖʳⁱⁿᵗˢ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ʰᵃᵈ ᵗᵉʳʳᵒⁱᶻᵉᵈ ʳᵃⁿᵈᵒᵐ ᵖˡᵃᶜᵉˢ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᶜʰᵒᵒˡ ˡᵃᵗᵉʳ...**

Picking up books proved to be difficult with paint covered hands, Nya tried to wipe it off using her jeans but that seemed to make it worse, the obvious solution was to wash it off, but school toilets were more radioactive than. Her paint covered shoes had left footprints all around the school, which on the plus side had finally given her own signature, on the down side it had given Mr Davies his own Marauders Map for her were abouts. "Knock, knock," Nya said to Oliver Twaddle. 

"Oh, I know this one." He paused. "Who’s there?"

"The interrupting cow." She passed him a paint covered book. 

"The interrupt—"

"Moo."

"—ing cow who?" He continued to look at me expectantly. "This is your bit."

"No, no, I did my bit." She assured him. 

"Sorry, did I miss it? Shall we try again?" He asked polietly, scanning her book upside down. 

"I’m not sure that will help. I’m beginning to realise that this was poor joke, it were sort of a subversion of the knock-knock form."

Oliver thought for a moment. "Oh so I’m led by the intrinsic structural features of the knock-knock joke medium to anticipate that the punch line will be delivered following my delivery of the expected reply ‘the interrupting cow who’ but because the interrupting cow is an interrupting cow, it instead delivers its punch line _during_ said response, thus confounding my expectations with hilarious consequences."

"Possibly?" She said, not understanding a word he was saying. 

"It’s rather good" He leaned sideways. "I say, Miss Smith. Come in here"

Miss Smith's head appeared in the doorway. “What can I do you for, kids?"

"Knock, knock" Oliver said. 

"Who’s there?"

Oliver shot Nya a conspiratorial look. "The interrupting cow."

"The interrupting cow who?" asked Miss Smith

"Moo!"

There was a pause. "Ooh, I like it. I was expecting you to interrupt me, but you didn’t, so I was surprised, and that made it funny. I’ll be chuckling about that all day, I will."

_They were doing this deliberately_ , Nya thought weren’t they? They were evil geniuses who’d been playing me for years. 

"Got a joke for you, Leslie" Miss Smith announced, returning to the office, and Nya was left to witness the apocalypse she had created. 

**ᵃ ᶠᵉʷ ᶜᵒʷ ᵗʰᵉᵐᵉᵈ ⁿⁱᵍʰᵗᵐᵃʳᵉˢ ˡᵃᵗᵉʳ...**

11:45PM

There was nothing poetic about insomnia. Everyone had tried, but there was nothing beautiful of being unable to sleep, Nya was left there, under the night sky and clouds of her own intrusive thoughts, she opened the book she got back from Damon, the tips of her paint covered fingers tracing the words he'd scratched on the edges, a small smile slipping past her lips. Her thoughts wondered over to him, when the later hours approach, he was always a sunset of his own, initally bright but always fading in darkness as she remembered who he was. 

It was distressing, she didn't know what he wanted, why they only spoke under the influence of stars and cigarrettes, that to annoy Liam...he'd have to know, so why didn't he. She shook her had, closing the book, she barely knew him, and what she did know, weren't what happened in their minimal conversations. 

  
11:50

The thunderstorms earlier had worried Nya slightly, that maybe it couldn't happen. But then again, she wasn't sure it would stop her. 

11:50, fucking finally.

She crept past her older sister, Jorja, who slept in the bed opposite her quietly, which she didn't have to do, as Jorja could sleep through WW3, but did so anyway, for her own peace of mind.

Nya's knackered Converses had committed a relationship with windowsills. Every night for the best two years she had been holding onto the window frame and jumping into her front drive. The windowsills creaked under her weight but their relationship with her battered shoes never changed. Even after the soles buried themselves into soil as soon as she landed.

Once she knew she wasn't going to fall over, she picked out her rusty bike from behind the thorn bush and pushed the piece of shit through the empty streets, that had been abadonned by the world that had fallen asleep. 

Nya didn't like being alone, only then was her mind free to flood itself with instrusive thoughts. Her head wasn't a safe space and nothing would ever change that. Liam would hate this, the empty streets. It would creep up on him, the lonlieness of the night time. She thought it would scare him, although it was stupid, he already thought the world was hiding from him. 

"You're late" A voice said simply, numbing her thoughts, diminishing the cold with a warmth from the fire and electricity that only can be found in the shining eyes of Graham Coxon. 

"Wouldn't want to spoil a tradition" Nya said allowing a smile to slip through her lips which he copied, extinguishing the cigarrette that had rested between his fingers.

"Busy with your bird?" He asked with a smirk. 

"What can I say, he were being posessive" She said, playing along as usual with their little game. "Imagine wanting to attention from your lover...mental" 

"Eh just find a new one" He said "And don't get him pregnant" She couldn't help but break, laughing like an idiot.

He wrapped his arms around her, the faint taste of ash cloaking his touch, before picking up his skateboard and skating beside her.

Tonight had been pretty bad, but he was making it better, he always did.

Graham was observant, artists and photographers usually were. He seemed to notice everything about everyone, usually keeping it to himself. But if he wanted to, he could present everyone with secrets he had been collecting over the years in a film. Every clip of fear, love, joy that ever breathed within you would filter into a film roll, spiralling around to beginning and end, only the bits he thought he could amend would he givce a second glance to. 

About two years ago, Nya's film reel began to warp and crack ever sky often, only under the darkness, did the projector show any damage, when the temperature was just a breath of cool whispers. The leaves were beginning to rust and decay beneath his lense, but the chilly air had singed into their cheeks all night. 

He noticed how no matter how knackered her converses got, she never replaced them. He saw the same as everyone else, how she picked at other people's lunches, how the fabric on her skin never rested on her properly and how her socks never seemed to match. So, before they were friends properly, he left a note in her bag, asking her to meet him outside the half post box, which had been broken years ago by a firework.

Although she didn't know why, she did anyway, too tired to worry. Nya crept away from my sleeping family and ran down the empty streets of Manchester.

When she met him, he simply smiled and skated beside her to the nearest petrol station. Where he took out a fiver and bought a load of sweets. See he suspected that she didn't consume the right amount of food needed for a growing, fifteen year old at the time. He was right, so it he took it upon himself to pick up where her parents couldn't.

So every night the two insomniacs would meet at midnight, buying as much shit as possible, mainly rainbow donuts and cigarrettes before eating it all on the top of the bus shelter, listening to shit indie music.

She needed it, he needed it because sometimes you need something that can make everything slow down for a bit. Make things breathe a little more. Because when your life is fucked out of your control, sometimes you need everything to just stop for a moment, so you are able to destroy it a little yourself. 

And in those moments, when Nya sat next to Graham, everything she ever wished, felt or feared, disappeared. The world stop moving for a moment and everything slowed. All for a moment, just one, one moment of everything at once. Anything before is nothing. Everything after, nothing. Just that one minute. 

So they would sit there, with that one moment, the world around them falling apart. The boy with the skateboard and the girl with paint in her hair. 

"Oi, Trouble" He said, the flash of his camera capturing the lights of the petrol station the same time it quickly snapped her out of her daydreams. . "What's the story today? You look like you've jumped in front of a train and missed." He said pointing the end of his lense at her, the flash momentarily lighting up their surroundings before disapearing, he showed her the polaroid of her mardy face and Nya rolled her eyes, letting the poisionous ash corrupt her lungs.

"None existent, and filled with plotholes" She said quietly, peeling the skin from around her nails, causing it to sting. "I didn't find o'wt" 

Graham thought for a moment, choosing his words carefully, like he always did. "Maybe not tonight but you will, you won't be looking forever" He asaured her, exstinguishing his cigarrette and lighting another. "You need to be carefull though, I know you're better off out here than me, but don't put yourself in harms way, not worth it." 

She shook her head, blowing smoke into the open air. A cloud drifted away from the moon, and under the faint, she was able to see the taller boy more, and the purple bruises that tainted his cheekbones and eye. Her hand cupped his cheek "Speaking of taking care..." She whispered, her thumb tracing around the dents in his skin. "Liam?" 

He hesistated, biting his lip. "If your first thought is about your psychotic boyfriend, then that says a lot about him" Graham said, and she raised her eyebrow. "...Sorry, it's just...got in the crossfire between him and Damon again, and that wasn't even what..." 

"...I've told him to leave it, not worth it. If anyone hurts you again Gra, you tell me and I'll burn their shit down" She said and a small smile slipped through his cracked lips. 

"Same here...if we ever get hurt I guess we'll be arsonists" He said and she laughed, shaking his hand. "But with your boyfriend running Fight Club, Manchester will be up in flames, the kids will sing songs about it"

"Aye, he's not that bad" She said, giving him a light push, not enough to send him flying over the top of the bus shelter and turned to the next page on her sketchpad, so she could continue to draw him. "I don't judge your friendship choices" 

Graham sighed, taking another picture of their cigarrettes "Look, Damon isn't that bad, he's a fuckhead, sometimes he's so stupid and only thinks of himself..." 

"Well I'm convinced" She teased and Graham rolled his eyes.

"..But, he never meant no harm, well at least I think he doesn't...just gets a bit thick when he falls in love..." Graham said, shaking his head in disprovel. "I think he's fallen out of those bad habits" 

"I like the make my own conclusions" She said, and Graham gave her an amused look, taking a quick picture of her broken Converse and his worn out Nike's that swung over the edge of the bus shelter "...I ain't got much to go off yet, other than there's someone else on Mr Davie's hitlist, and now Liam has summat in common with the head of sixth. Aye, enough about them...how's things going with Lynn?" She fell onto her back, next to Graham. 

"Alright, but I think I need to stay in the real world, I have too many romantic fanatasies...just makes me sad" He shrugged, Nya turned to face him, gesturing for him to eleborate. "...I wanna do summat for her, like let her know how much I love her, we've obviously told eachother...it's just I won't to show her..." 

"Draw her summat" She said pressing her pencil down a little harder, the tone deepening around his eyes. "You're good at that, you paint beautifully, anything that shows her you care...men spend too much time speculating what women want without actually asking them" She wondered whether or not she should imprint his frustration or not. 

" I suppose you're the expert and all..." He teased. "I'm sure Liam is charming as ever"

"Hey" She said "You know he can be romantic" Graham nearly choked on his rainbow donut and she nudged him lightly. 

"Does he make you parkas?" He asked and she rolled his eyes. "With custom hearts and everything?"

"No...although that would be nice, weather's been piss take" She said, leaning against the taller boy. "He's been like leaving me little messages in me bag and locker, like mixtapes" She felt Graham tense behind her. 

Graham bit down on his cigarrette, a rush of nicotine instantly burning his throat and he choked, she sat forward, surprised. "What?" His voice cracked, and Nya offered him her water bottle which he took gratefully. "He'd never" 

"Who else would?" She asked shrugging, Graham looked conflicted but pretended to be distracted by his camera. 

He muttered something beneath his breath and all she heard was "Why are people attracted to people they can't have, or you know despise them?". Nya exhaled a cloud   
cloud of ash that spiraled around them.

Sometimes Graham's focus was unsettling, it was almost as if he knew things, could see them before anyone else could, before they even happened. It was like he was waiting for something, and Nya didn't like the implication, who would? The idea that your mind, your life, can be drawn out in front of you, by someone else. 

"Because, somwtimws we're lead to believe that you can't fall deep without breaking breaking your heart..." She said, resting her chin against his shoulder.

"There lies the catch" He said and she nodded and Graham accidently flicked the dried ash from the side stream smoke at her. "Luckily, 

Nya rolled her eyes and tackled him, pinning him down on the top of the bus shelter. He laughed and easily pushed her off of him and pinning her down."You're mad" He said and Nya laughed "Old news" He said before she could and she pouted.

Graham lay beside her, both of their gazes drawn to the sky, looking for stars under the blanket of the Manchester pollution. 

"You gonna let this destroy you aren't you?"He asked and Nya didn't even turn to look to him before asking what he meant. "Whenever you'll feel it, whenever you'll notice, you're going to let your thoughts, the guilt, break you" He said, his words burning my lungs, just like the nicotine.

"Whatever happens, promise me that you won't ever let a wanker from Sheffield cry your heart out" He said his words cascading through the air, in the depths of wisps of the smoke that, stretching into eclipses. 

And so a promise followed the burning ash, a whisper of ghosts in the breeze, towards the soulless sky that envoloped the city that never woke up. Hoping one day the stars would be visable above the boy with skateboard, and the girl with broken mixtape over her heart.

  
  
  
  
  



	5. ►Track Five

˚ * ⋆  
˛ * ⭒ ✺  
･ *･ﾟ: * ❅ ✧   
･ ･ ..✹ ✧..   
. *✫ ⋆*❅*•̩̩͙ ﾟ ..+ ⋆  
  
⋆ * . * .  
. ･ . ･ . * .   
. ･ ･ + . ⋆** ﾟ ..+  
. ⋆ * .  
* . .･ . ･ .  
⊹ . * ✧  
˚ ..  
⋆ ･*･.･ .. ..  
* ⊹ *ﾟ  
･+ ･*✫  
.. . ⋆ ❅ ✫  
  
* . . ･ . ﾟ ⋆ *⁎̩͙ .  
･*･.･  
. ･ ･⊹ . ..+  
. ⋆ ❅ .   
✫. . ﾟ . ⋆* . ⋆ .  


  


**ʰᵒˡᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ˡⁱⁿᵉ**

1:15 ───|────── 3:07

|◁ II ▷|

∞ ↺

▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ █ 100 %

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**DAMON**   
  


  
**DAMON** thought there were too many motivational songs. If music wanted to really be relatable, songs should be about failure to do anything. That even though, you expect the worst, it evolves and destroys you each time. This was something he'd remember when grundge would come around, and he'd lose a copyright case to.

But it wasn't often that Graham would be the one to tell him he infact failed again, and at this point...he could write a whole fucking album about each individual incident as it was getting comical at this point. "I don't understand...Gra I told you, the whole GCSE textbook hostage thing was put down to 'exam stress'"

"It's not that, you've got another problem" Graham said, having a momentary debate with himself "It's just, you know your attempts of being all mysterious romantic and shit?" Damon nodded slowly. "...she thinks it's Liam leaving those mixtapes"

In old films, whenever there was an unexpected plot twist, or a character was in intimate danger, there would be a sudden, loud symbol crash, or high violin string snap . The score would follow with a dramatic serenade of strings, accompanied with the odd flute and then, they'd either die or be saved by a bloke with an impressive moustache.

But, in that moment, there was nothing, only silence. All the music had left him, taken by the stupid Oasis frontman. "What?" Damon's voice cracked. "Why would she think that?"

"Good morning...and shut up" Their History Teacher, Mr Davis said, shutting the door behind him.

Graham opened his textbook upside and used to cover the two of them. "Because it's better to think the person you're with is secretly romantic than you know...someone else is like weirdly attracted to you"

"Oh shut it" Damon said amd Graham gave him a cheeky grin. "Wait...how do you know this exactly?"

Graham's eyes widened and he cleared his throat. "I....ugh, was...eavesdropping?" He said, Damon wasn't convinced, but he didn't push it.

"And you say I'm the weird one...do not make a radiohead reference" Damon added quickly and Graham put his hands up in surrender."I'm so fucked aren't I?"

"Yes you are" Mr Davis said, appearing out of no where suddenly, towering over Damom. "But for other reasons than your low budget romantic comedy Netflix original issues"

"Oh shit" Damon mumbled.

"Shit indeed" Mr Davis said, and Graham grinned "It was flattering to recieve the knownledge that the torturous hours wasted teaching you this year Albarn , has taught you that History began in 1670, that Henry the 8th was a pornstar and that Valdmir Putin was a fashion student in this school" This caused a few sniggers.

Damon sighed. "See you in detention" He mumbled and Mr Davis smiled. "What should I do with this weeks essay?" He asked, taking out a food-stained collection of papers in his bag.

"Feel free to hand it in my filing cabinet" Mr Davis said and he frowned.

"Where's that?" He asked.

"Any bin" Mr Davis said. "Any bin you find within or outside the school" He turned around and went back to the front of the classroom.

Even half an hour later, Graham would break any moment by laughing at everything that happened. "I hope he didn't read your conclusion about Thatcher and Homoerotic art" He added and Damon threw his rubber at him.

The worst thing about History lessons was that, even though you knew, you knew that there would be an end...they weren't infinite, that outcome seemed increasingly unlikely.

When they were finally released from that horror, Damon was ready to drop out of school and join _Naked Attraction_ or something, but had hidden away in the music room that afternoon, trying not to be too affected by that hour-long form of medieval torture.

Within music he attempted to drown his nerves and conflicts, which wasn't exactly working as he felt he was going to DIE as he couldn't fucking play anything. His hands rested on the ivory keys and pressed down. His fingers moved comfortable across the keys, coaxing the soft melody from deep within him . A minor to E minor over G, F. 

  
_I saw that day_   
_Lost my mind_

The melody enhanced the music allowing the mist to fade, and suddenly he felt entirely alone. Lowing the key from F to E minor, made him euphoric, but sometimes his voice would crack and eyes would close at the lyrics, those lyrics that came from his hurt. He was still hurt, always hurting, music always falling from his broken heart.

_Lord, I'll find_   
_Maybe in time_   
_You'll want to be mine_

The remains of his heart clasped onto the E minor that echoed against the walls as he finished.

"That's an incredibly sad song" He heard a voice behind him and nearly fell off the piano stool. He turned around, to see Nya, always appearing as quickly as the night, slipping away from his daydreams and into reality. She was sitting on one of the tables, looking at him coyly with her legs crossed. "You'll break hearts"

His cheeks burned, and he almost broke his fingers when he lowered the piano cover too quickly. "It wasn't supposed to be heard" He said, and she tilted her head to the side, taking the cigarrette from behind her ear and bringing it to her lips, a flicker of guilt creasing through her face.

"Oh sorry, I came here for a violin, and I heard music so I just....I were sort of making a shit musical as a joke with Mai" She said, sliding off the table and walking over to the wall behind him, picking up the wooden instrument. "I didn't know you played piano"

"Yeah...well...I'm in a band" He said simply, "Did you think I just stood around looking pretty?"

She grinned. "You get in too many fights for that..." She said and he rolled his eyes. "Are you gonna play it on Saturday?"

His eyes widened. "No! I mean...we're not playing at that pub on Saturday, Liam and Noel got us barred form the Villa Rosie" He said quickly, stumbling on his words, and she raised her eyebrow, the glitter scattered across it, shimmering under the light. "Fine, we're gonna try and go anyway, but I didn't tell you that..." Perhaps it was a test, Damon thought, _which was stupid, as she barely knew him, he was already hoping he'd keep a secret from her boyfriend for him._ Yeah he wasn't proud of it, but he couldn't deny it.

She grinned, gesturing to her lips which she sealed. "Will you have disguises and everything? You could be the next villain in Lazy Town" She teased and Damon laughed. "Well, at least wait 'til after it ends, before the inevitable war of bad haircuts will occur...I actually enjoy these gigs. You should play that song, it's beautiful"

His cheeks were suddenly set a light and he tried to hide them under his hair, which was unsuccessful, _really shouldn't have got that haircut,_ he thought. "...It's not very lively, doesn't really go with our sound...if you can even call what we have that, mindless thrashing perhaps" He added, to dilute the tension and she laughed, shaking her had. "...It's not really for anyone, it's just..."

"Doesn't have to be, not all music is for someone, it can just...be" She said, giving him a kind smile, which he returned, the sentiment not lasting as she fell into another amused grin "All though I think it'll bang with the mindless thrashing, mint shit that is..."

Damon became overwhealmed with dread. "Oh fuck, don't tell me..." He groaned.

"Parhhhk-life," She imitated a southern accent badly, hopping back and fourth and playing air guitar. "Heard you lot in Dave's garage, last night...aLl tHe PeOpLe, heard it"

Damon hid his face in his hands, as he laughed. "Oh you are lovely, aren't you?" He said sarcastically and she grinned.

"Confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur of what is known as-"

He smirked and pulled Nya's hood up over her head and eyes, she laughed, her grin sparking something he wished could remain in every minute of every hour of his life, but when her gaze met his again it disappeared, and she shook her head.

"Can I ask you something?" Damon asked, and she looked taken back for a moment, studying him cautiously.

"Depends, that's a big wish, I hope you'll use it wisely" Nya said, because for some reason she said things to make him smile.

"How many do I get?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

"That's one of three" She said.

He nodded, turning away from the piano. "What are we doing exactly?" He asked and she frowned, confused. "I mean, like, why do you do that...you look at me with so much suspicion, I know we barely talk it's just why do you still talk to me if you so skeptical of me?"

She frowned, and Damon felt guilt swell inside of him. "Look, I don't care for the whole popscene thing, I don't care about the rivarly, I'm mates with your lot...it's just, I don't have a problem with you, I can't really, I barely know you. Everything I know of you, what I've heard , I never really see when I'm around you but... I don't want to find out if it's all as they say it is"

He studied her cautiously. "I try not to let myself become any rumours" He assured, trying to hold onto his heart, _so she knew, if she knew why was she still here?_

"Can I ask _you_ a question?" She asked.

"Sure" He said nervously.

"Would you teach me how to play that song?"She asked and Damon's eyes widened. "I don't really play anymore, but I'd like to... there's summat beautiful about it"

"I mean...are you sure, I'm not any good" He rambled nervously.

"You're brilliant" She noted and he swallowed hard. _That there, that what's killed me officer._ "You don't have to..."

He hesistated "Sure" He said and she sat down on the stool, gesturing for him to shuffle across more, so he did. "So it's, sort of this shape...and it's an A minor chord" He said, spreading his fingers across the keys, she nodded and mimicked his actions.

"Ok, then a E minor over G" He said, playing the chords slowly, she frowned, watching his hands carefully. Damon hesistated for a moment, before placing his hands on top of hers, guiding her to the right keys. He felt her fingers tense underneath my his at first, then relax. "This is an F, which you play after."

She moved her hands underneath his lifting, guessing, and then waiting for his response. An F note echoed around the room. "Now over to E minor," He encourage her "And back to A minor." She pushed her fingers down, drawing the last note out and smiled "See...not exactly Bach, you play well...why don't you like play music, like properly, you're brilliant at it"

"I do, I like playing music, love it...it's just..." She trailed off, looking down at her hands revealing dents and scars on her skin that twisted like barbed wire. "I sort of, can't really play anymore, got into a bit of an accident few years back, and besides I like making music for a laugh, can't do anything seriously"

"They say the same about Morissey" Damon said, and she laughed.

"I wish I could, I can't play like I used to" She said, shaking her head to herself. "I used to be like you, it gave me life"

"But what do you do now...without it?" He asked and she gave him a sad smile.

"Try to find out where it all went, I guess" She said "And I'm not without it, music, it's everywhere, not even if I tried, I can't run for it" Her watch bleeped and she look down at her wrist, checking the time. "Well I best be of then, see you on saturday...and hey Damon?"

"Yeah...?"

"Don't be so hard on yourself...the song's perfect"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Song Duration: Shine Aswad 3:46  
Duchess Scott Walker. 2:48  
Two stolen Beatles Albums  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Damon had heard a lot about tactics of reducing stage fright, but four pints and molly wasn't one he'd recommend or repeat.

"Willow, you sure everyone's stupid enough to fall for this?"Graham asked as he rested his hand on the splintering painted door and pushed, shards of black paint crumbled to the floor.

"Never underestimate the stupidity of the nation Coxon" She said and Graham held his guitar case over his head as he weaved through the crowd, his height making him a safe beacon of sorts as the rest of the band followed him over to the bar.

  
The laughter around Damin seemed to distort the records, and conversationss seemed to swirl in a dirty cloud of smoke, as the nerves caused his hands to tremble whilst he lit his cigarrette. They had gotten here early, which was Dave's idea of course because he didn't want a repeat of last time, when the amp exploded. 

"Right ok...we all should be fine, as long as no one messes with the set lists again and Alex doesn't keep flicking his fag butts at me" Graham said, glaring at the bass player who pushed his fringe out of his eyes,giving him a sly grin. He looked over to Damon, who tried to give him a reassuring smile, but of course his bestfriend could see right through him. "Alex make yourself useful and get some drinks will you" 

"Alright love, anything else you want, reckon I should polish your balls as well?" Alex asked, coyly and Graham rolled his eyes, pulling his hood over his eyes, and pushing him towards the bar. 

He turned to Damon who was biting his nails, nervously, Graham pulled a flask out of his pocket, and took a sip before sighing dramatically. "...Ok, you're never this nervous, if you're worried about the Muppet Cut Gallaghers, they've completely coked up" 

Damon never broke his gaze, accidently peeling his nail back too far, his skin ripping open with it, he hissed softly, Graham wacked his hand and followed his eyeline, to Nya and her friend Mai, who had once concussed Graham in badminton and spent the next week aplogising for it, he sighed, shaking head. "You'll be fine Day, the lights are too bright anyway, you won't be able to see o'wt" He reassured him, wrapping his arm around the shorter boy, who rested his head on Graham's shoulder. "...And besides, it's not like anyone's expecting anything good" Damon wacked his arm with the end of his sleeve. 

"You need to stop being so cynical...it all isn't that bad Gra" Damon pushed and Graham rolled his eyes, mimicking his pout and laughed. 

"You need to stop being so worried...instead of just standing there wondering what she thinks all the time, why don't you find out? Cause I reckon you don't cross her thoughts...because you never actually talk to her" Graham said, bringing the pint glass to his lips, his eyes lit up once he spotted his girlfriend in the crowd. "Ight, I'm gonna go and dance...you need a drink mate, and don't worry, if we fuck up that'll just be part of our branding, our aesthetic what makes us stand out..."

Sometimes Damon felt that Graham was only in a band for a laugh, and his main aim was to reach peak stardom and then release a really shit album to see his fans struggle defend it. Damon shook his head in disprovel as Graham finished another pint, "Heyyy" She said, as he wrapped his arm around Lynn, kissing her softly, before letting himself be pulled onto the dancefloor. "Come on, we've get to get there quickly, we can't dance infront of the blue lights it's bad luck"

Graham gave Damon a warning look before he made fun of yet another one of his girlfriend's weird conspiracy theories, he put his hands up on surrender. The bass thundered through him, in time with his heart beat, as the music got louder. 

Along the dark room hundreds of vibrant colours, illuminating with their flickering changes in shape, casting every colour by the tinted panes. Damon ordered another drink, because he felt awkward dancing without holding onto something.

"Oi, George Michael" A familair voice said, and Damon turnex around to see Nya walking over to the bar, Mai's arm around her. "So this was the great disguise?...Almost didn't recognise you" Damon smirked, putting his sunglasses on again. "Oh now where you gone?" He rolled his eyes, lowering his sunglasses and she nicked them so quickly he almost didn't feel it, resting the frames on her nose. "...Parrkkklife" She mocked in a terrible southern accent. 

  
He laughed, rolling his eyes. "Lovely, can't wait for your cover" He said and she grinned.

"And I can't wait for another drink" Mai interjected, resting her head against her best friend's. "Oi, bloke behind the bar, stella and your number mate, cheers" Damon suddenly became very envious of her confidence.

"This is Mai...Mai, this is Damon" Nya said and Damon extended out his hand for a handshake but she high fived him instead.

The opening chords of _Supersonic_ began to errupt the room, and Mai's captured Nya's hand, and Nya cheered "Aye, 'bout time, let's have it" She shouted over the music.

"You best not drop me again" Mai said as her bestfriend began to drag her onto the dancefloor. "Come on, then" She pulled at Damon's arm and dragged him with him.

Nya cheered, when Damon joined them, causing him to bow sarcastically. The music began to pick up, and Damon was sure that being with earshot of this was gomna be on his cause of death on Wikipedia. The whole crowd began to jump around like idiots, like some sort of pandemic, meaning that Damon was right about Oasis being a fucking disease. Nya and Mai sung along to the lyrics purposefully getting them wrong to piss off Noel who rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at them.

With everything blending into swirls of laughter and terrible singing and swinging around, Damon eventually drifted into the same space as Nya and it was although all the fear that burned through him had dissolved through his laughter as they spun each other round at the same time. Chaotic, that was it, that was the word.It was perfect chaos.

When the song had finished, Liam leaned his arm out into the crowd, and for a moment Damon felt increadibly worried, but that moment didn't really end when Nya held on into his hand and he pulled her onto the stage, she picked up a violin as Noel began to strum the opening chords of _Whatever_ and Damon wanted to punch himself, for even knowing that, but that thought got lost as she began to play along with them, the chords simple and breaking often, never perfect but with every note, she held the universe together.

The swan song was shot with a loud bang, and the amp exploded with confetti canons, on the side of the stage, Dave and Alex were laughing at their revenge prank, until Noel armed himself with his guitar and began chasing them of the stage.

Alex and Dave's great escape lastest long enough for them to make it safely to the stage. The chatter that surrounded the room didn't dilute when the strings would start to pluck and the microphone stand started to be adjusted. Damon cleared his throat, his hands trembling as he held onto the microphone. "Erm...evening, we're Blur and...we're going to play some tunes" Damon said quickly and he doubted anyone would be able to unscrabble his words. Graham was right, the lights were too bright and he couldn't really see anything.

Nya gave them a cheer and Liam gave him the wank sign and he smiled. Dave slapped his drum sticks together and as soon as they started to play the room grew quiet, all focuses on them. They had started of with one of their more upbeat songs in order to get everyone's attention straight away and it seemed to be working. " _A fervoured image of another world is nothing in particular now"_ He began to sing, all his nerves diluting as he did so. Everyone was jumping around and cheering but for once in his life he fell compeletly content, jumping around, the the music travelling through every infinite space.

_"Hey, hey come out tonight, hey, hey come out tonight"_

He'd jump around the stage as he sang, wrapping his arm around Graham or simply messing up his hair before he started to climb the stage frame, nearly breaking his foot when he knocked over the PA after he jumped off.

"Popscene, ahhhhhhhhhh" He sang, trying to hide his pain in more of a, musically acceptable way, reaching notes he never would've done with a non-broken ankle.

They left the stage a little earlier due to Damon's accident in a flustered manner, knocking over a microphone stand and accidently hitting someone with a guitar. "Ok, it was a success...it was a success, I don't believe it, shit...how much did I drink?" Willow asked, considering for a moment before she was wrapped into a hug by the band mates. "...you lot were mint, Damon's self sacrifice was worth it, thanks universe"

"Says you...Graaaaa, I'm going to dieeee" Damon moaned, leaning against the guitarist for support, who just rolled his eyes, wrapping his arms around his shoulder. "You're gonna have to play doctor" 

"Ha, only if I get to declare time of death" Graham said. "Come on, princess, I need another drink" 

They all sat round the bar, where more drinks whilst on music ecstasy was never a good idea, Dave and Jamie were having a drunken dance off, and by the time the tried to re-create Dirty Dancing again, Damon regretted not bringing a camera. Graham and Lynn were whispering to each other between drinks, which they tried to make Damon feel like he was included, but that got incredibly weird very quickly. So with only, Jim the bar attender and a damaged ankle, he got bored very quickly. 

"I'm disapppinted...your playing didn't cause me to sponatously combust...Graham you lied to me, that's false advertising" Nya said, as she walked up to the bar, leaning against the surface, but she was still wearing Damon's sunglasses so looking in the wrong direction. "Pint of stella, Jim"

"Oi, nah, no under 18s, not after last time" Jim said "You can have a capri sun or fruit shoot" 

Damon rolled his eyes. "Right I'll have one then, if you try and ID everyone here Jim the pub will be empty very quickly" He said and Jim muttered something to himself before filling two pint glasses.

"Ta" Nya said, but it felt less sentimaentel as she was looking in the wrong direction, Damon smirked, reaching over to lower the sun glasses. "I can pay" She opened a wallet and offered him a fiver, it took Damon a moment to realise she had nicked it from the bloke that had walked passed, faster than he could blink. 

"It's alright" He said with a reassuring smile, and she shrugged putting the wallet in her pocket. "You play really well...the violin I mean" 

She instantly choked on her drink, and gave him an awkward smile. "Erm...shit, ta I guess" She said, laughing "Sorry, I'm no good with compliments, thanks. Your climbing skill are good too"

Damon laughed, shaking his head. "You should play more often...not just for others" 

She sighed, a hint of frustration flickering through her eyes. "I told you, it's not like you think..." His gaze fell to her hands again and Damon wondered how such broken hands played so beautifully. Damon stared down at his drink, looking back at Graham who was looking for Lynn as she had got lost again. 

"Do you dance?" He asked, and a grin played through her lips, like a perfect broken chord. 

"Course I do, all the time" She said, finishing her drink, and sliding off the surface of the bar, running onto the dancefloor. She hooked her arm around Mai who was pulling Jim casually. Damon moved awkwardly, trying not too bring too much attention to him, looking out for a certain band of Gallaghers. But all of his nerves faded when Journey began to play, and no one could ignore it. 

Their two silouettes drift3d around eachother, never meeting as they swang their arms and moved within the fade and shrink of the music. "sTrAnGeRs wAItInG" Nya shouted along the crowd and over Mai and Dave's arguing, her eyes glistening under the party lights. 

Damon laughed "STREETLIGHT PEOPLE...HIDING SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHHTT" They both sang and although thr music hadn't slowed down it distortrd around him as he, began to stop moving, when they had finally found each other, her arm around had rested on his shoulder as she danced and laughed, singing along with the rest of the crowd, and a soft ripple of warmth, spiralled around him. "STREETLIGHTS PEOPLEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Damon looked up to the celing where all the lights seemed to meet each other at once. It was like dancing under the Northern Lights; beneath the dry-ice smoke swirled an array of blues, acid greens, hot pinks and gold. There was a loud crash that broke all sound in the crowd. "Ha, I didn't think we were that bad..." Damon said, the two of them laughing as Nya threw her arms up in victory. 

"Finally the universe has decided to fight back" She declared. "Tenner that's it's a music based zombie apocalypse"

  
"Graham's on my team" Damon said quickly before she could and she groaned. "He can hit pretty hard with a guitar...I would know"

There was a scruffle of insults and shouts that sounded all too familiar for anyone to ignore. "Oh for fucks sake Liam" She muttered, before pushing past Damon and the rest of the crowd, Damon hesistated for a moment before following after her, alongisde Dave, who wanted to know the 'tea', as his addicition to drama was worse than Graham's drinking problem.

Liam was the on the floor, being propped up by Bonehead as he cupped his jaw, trying to get the dropping blood. Damon wanted to point out that it wasn't just him, and if he was out of the picture, the two Gallaghers would propably being killing each other. "What the fuck is going on?" Nya asked, standing between Liam and an abolsute unit of a bloke, who Damon noted as Colin Zeal who took Drama at GCSE and thought it made him a mad lad.

She crouched down to Liam, brushing his hair out of his eyes and helping him stand up. "Oh look at that Gallagher, you've got your bird to come and save you, cause you punch like a poof" Colin said and Nya glared at him, brushing the blood away from Liam's jaw with her sleeve.

"Shut the fuck up" Damon said, instantly regretting it when Colin looked over to him.

"Wow looks like you've got yourself a girlfriend Gallagher" He sneered and Liam rolled his eyes, giving him a bored glance, Noel looked like he was going to batter him there and Nya pushed him back. "Yeah that's right...hold 'em, causing a lot of problems, I weren't wrong was I..." He slurred his words in a drunken hase. "Thatcher was right...your lot need sorting out"

"Now that's not on" Graham said, even putting his drink down, holding Damon's arm to stop him from going to smash his head in, but before he could, Nya stood up gave him one dirty look before her fist collided with Colin's throat, and he fell to the ground with the impact.

"Aye find a hobby you tory cunt" She said, and Alex turned around for a minute, causing Dave to hit him, informing him that she wasn't talking to him "Aren't EDEL rallies interesting enough for you?" Liam's arms rested on Noel and Nya's shoulder as they left the crime scene. "Told you Liam, you don't have to get yourself battered in me honour love"

"Sorry" He said, his words slurrying together, even when high Liam would still have a scrap for her. "Fucking cunt, proper chatting up shit 'bout you"

"Ah I know...ta anyway, love you" She said kissing his cheek softly and Damon looked away, back at Graham who was lying on the bar with a bottle of whisky in his hand. "Well I think we best be off"

Damon limped over to Graham, trying to pull his bestfriend up so he could actually leave. "Erm, we'll give you a hand" Damon said, almost falling over when Graham leaned into him.

"We will?" Graham groaned and Damon elbowed him. "Right so now we're a transport service, if so I need to find Lynn" He said resting his arm around Damon's shoulder, who was helping Liam as Noel had fucked off to do more lines...now this, this was the lowest point of his life.

"That's calm, but you best not slow us dowm or I'll have to give you a bad review on Uber for shit transportation services" She said, as she managed to catch a pissed Mai onto the their little train. "Also since you volunteered that means we'll have to go back to your place Albarn"

"Why?" He asked, his voice cracking in a panic.

"'We walk round our area, none of us are in any state for a scrap..." She said casually as they left the pub.

No, that wasn't good. That was terrible, that was a disaster now was...

"That's cool" Damon said "That's really...great" and she smiled, leading the way through the miserable streets of Manchester.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. ►Track Six

  
˚ * ⋆  
˛ * ⭒ ✺  
･ *･ﾟ: * ❅ ✧   
･ ･ ..✹ ✧..   
. *✫ ⋆*❅*•̩̩͙ ﾟ ..+ ⋆  
  
⋆ * . * .  
. ･ . ･ . * .   
. ･ ･ + . ⋆** ﾟ ..+  
. ⋆ * .  
* . .･ . ･ .  
⊹ . * ✧  
˚ ..  
⋆ ･*･.･ .. ..  
* ⊹ *ﾟ  
･+ ･*✫  
.. . ⋆ ❅ ✫  
  
* . . ･ . ﾟ ⋆ *⁎̩͙ .  
･*･.･  
. ･ ･⊹ . ..+  
. ⋆ ❅ .   
✫. . ﾟ . ⋆* . ⋆ .  


  


  
  
**ᵃ** **ˢˡᵉᵉᵖ**

1:15 ───|────── 3:07

|◁ II ▷|

∞ ↺

▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ █ 100 %

**NYA**   
  


**OK** , so it should be noted that at this point in time Nya was unsure how to tell a well-structured story when her life was complete and utter chaos.

Although to the general public, their drunken train wouldn't exactly pass any transport safety checks, with Liam stumbling into Damon and nearly falling ever other second as Damon was reluctant to catch him, Lynn going missing so many times that she'd have to rebrand milk cartons with her face on and Graham repeatively trying to get himself hit by cars to sober himself up. But safety checks weren't exactly on the mind of the reckless. 

  
"We were this close to getting fish and chips...this close" Nya gestured with her hands. "But you had to burn the place down"

"It were an accident...and if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be going home with you lot anyway...I'd be having a shag" Mai said, leaning closer to Nya shoulder.

"Aye, it ain't _my_ fault" Nya protested, "I just pointed out that Jim's a bit daft you know...he thinks he were born in the wrong generation"

"I'm with her on that one" Damon said, "Like it's alright...but not when that's like his only chat, like 'modern life's rubbish' and that's it"

"And I wouldn't have noticed if you didn't point it out" Mai complained. "Every single time, can't pull a lad can I because miss bigmouth over here, strikes again" She said and causing stars to strike through their eyes. "Don't..."

" _Sweetness... sweetness I was only joking.._." Nya sang, causing Damon to stop walking due to the shock of her Smiths reference, and Liam to fall into him. It was the top of charts, so she was in confusion. BRITPOP EXPLAIN! " _When I said I'd like to..._ "

"Smash every tooth in your head" Damon sang along and she giggled, causing Liam to groan, Damon's eyes widened quickly helping him lean over to vomit in the closest drain. "Charming"

"Look love, I were just keeping an eye out for you" Nya said "I mean when you ditch me for another lad, can't blame me"

"I've already apologised for that-oh fuck we sound like an old married couple, I'm sorry wife, you don't have to worry, you put me off all me blokes anyway" Mai said.

"Why am I the wife?" She asked, and Mai smirked, causing Nya to tickle her ribs.

"I wouldn't mind being your wife" Liam said, and Nya laughed. "Not even having a laff, proper serious, you lot are the best humans beings in the world, I LOVE YOU LOTS SO MUCH. Can I marry all of you?"

"Even me?" Damon asked sarcastically.

"If you cut you hair, maybe" Liam said, struggling to lift his head, _like he was one of my Year 5, drawings with balloon heads heads and futile limbs,_ Nya grinned at the thought, stopping him from falling into a lampost.

"I'm only aboard, if we all co-ordinate outfits" She said, adjusting Liam's glasses so they were upside down.

"I found her...we don't have to make missing posters" Graham said as he ran up to them, his hand interwhined with Lynn's as he leaned over to catch his breath. "She were at the other chippy"

"I've saved the day again...is this summat I should put on me UCAS?" She asked, clutching onto the newspaper bundle like a baby, _nothing but respect._ "Oh I didn't get vinegar so the government won't know our location"

Mai look like she was going to say something causing Nya nudged her. Lynn was the only reason she never had her conspiracy theory phase, any conversation with Lynn was 10x better than anything she could find herself, and she loved it.

By the time they had finished sharing the chips, they arrived outside Damon's house. Nya thought it looked like one of those, fake model homes you see in IKEA, everything seemed be working fine, which was incredibly surreal. But when he unlocked the door, he revealed that his home had now become a campsite for drunken corpses.

Through this adventurous house tour, it seemed like one of those interactive treasure hunt books, to Nya : **_How many drunken band members can you find?_**

She found Alex having a kip on the settee, Dave sleeping on the floor, using the rug as a blanket, **𝘋𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘋𝘐𝘕𝘎** [ **+2 points].** A blonde girl, she remembered as Willow under the table, spooning the bin and a random lad leaning against the open fridge door, who Damon had to kick out with a broom stick. _**DING DING**_ **[+500 POINTS]**

She looked around curiously, Mai had already found herself comfortable with hogging an arm chair, and Graham had nicked another bottle of wisky before he went to get some of his pajamas that was already at Damon's house as he practically lived there. Her fingertips ran across the clean surfaces, curling around fruit or lighters that were left and slipping them into her pocket within a heartbeat. There was even something called a pantry...where they were storing scones and shit for an apocalypse or something, which was odd as Nya always thought you ate food. 

She sniggered at a small Union Jack that rested against a pannel on the wall. "Brilliant...haven't seen one of them outside of a EDEL rally" She teased. 

Damon rolled his eyes. "Very funny" He said, picking up the kettle and pouring the water into the many mugs on the surface, whilst she had already internally created her review on Tripadvisor. 

THE AL-BARN

★☆☆☆☆

_> The place is an appropriate area to spawn a Damon through a ritual consisting of Addidas track suits and britpop. One star because despite of this I'm greatful he let us stay._

"Nya" Damon said, breaking her daydream and she blinked at him. "How do you have your cuppa?" 

"Ah sorry, I were daydreaming...keep teabag in, don't be doing with the sugar" She said and he nodded, sliding her a Sports Direct mug, as everyone seemed to have one of those in England apparently, she stirred the teabag in her drink, bringing the mug to her lips. 

He cleared his throat "...There's a spare bed in my room, for when Graham or Alex stay over, Gallagher's pretty coked up, we can't have him, choking on his vomit or something..." She winced at the suggestion and his eyes widened. "...Sorry, he'll be fine, but just to be on the safe side"

"See, you do secretly care" She noted, sipping her tea and he scrunched up his face  
"You're best mates and have been having me on the entire time" _Great one, brilliant, add that to the list of your Greatest Hits, of inappropriate comments 1988 deluxe edition._

"Yeah...and I'm completely sober" He said sarcastically, before pausing for a moment, watching Graham with concern as he took another beer from his fridge, he passed her his first aid box...as that was a thing, _first a pantry, now a a medical solution that wasn't just using a blue paper towl? Was this a sleepover or Big Brother?_

As she wiped away the dry blood from Liam's chin, nose and inspected the bruises on his face...some she knew very well wasn't from the fights at the bar, Liam held her gaze carefully, as if he was worried that if he looked away she would run over to Gallagher household and smack his Dad in the face with a frying pan...again. The guilt didn't leave her as her eyes rested on Damon who was trying to put out a small fire Dave had caused by trying to microwave his waterbottle...and so did her thoughts. 

  
_Why him_? She thought, _why did everything fall back to him? What was is it about him that was so...dangerously electric? Someone who fell through their life so far away from everything that was known about him, from all the rumours the sterotypes._ She knew, of course she did, not to believe in them, but she was fad, she could admit that, and like everyone else at school, especially Dave, breathed the gossip, a snake. And it was different, when you knew they were true, that the motive between the two rival frontmen, would always evolve around heartbreak, and it would never end.

His gaze caught hers, and everything was suddenly grey, everything around her,was burning ash from some sort of eternal flame that burned deep inside of him. His gaze, his bitten lip, his deep stare. Everything was grey, everything was and everything seemed to be, ashes and smoke blowing in the wind coming from this fire. Everything was just so intense, the remains of a burnt out soul, ash in a dying fire, dusting the room grey. She looked away, closing the first aid kit, and wondered how the illusion of kindness was most promient, how it was easy to forget everything he's done because, as selfish as it was, it wasn't her he hurt...he was a devil, but God knew she didn't want to be a angel. _Lord, keep your hell away, don't let me forget._

Trying to get Liam up the stairs was like a Disney live-action remake of snakes and ladders, with every step they took, it was unpredictable roll if they'd get a ladder and get further up or hit a snake and Liam would fall down two steps. "Alright big step" Nya said, and Liam raised his leg dramatically. 

When they finally made it up to Damon's room, she was tempted to draw them a small trophey, but got distracted by the band posters and CD's that littered the floor and walls, it the only thing that was untidy, everything else was organised and neat. 

They placed Liam onto the bed, and whilst Damon removed his shoes, frowning with disgust at the frontman, Nya's curousity followed her as she drifted across his room, noting each band poster, book, paper club with the soft touch of her fingertips that swept passed them all. Damon cheeks flushed brighter with each step she took, she stepped over the tissues and underwear on the floor with no interest, smiling at the huge George Michael and Morissey poster on the wall.

It surprised her, the amount of books he had scattered across the floor, as it made her wonder, why he needed hers. Her trail stopped at a small photo of him and Graham when they were younger, dressed up for some play, they must've been about fourteen she guessed, she smiled. "Please bring this back..." She said gesturing to Damon's bowl cut, and he rolled eyes. 

"One of humanties greatest mistakes..." He said, and she laughed. 

"I'm being completely serious" She said honestly, before she fell back onto his bed, rolling over to her side to study the lose mixtapes on his nightstand. She reached for the closest one, labelled 'SUNSHINE IN A BAG' and placed it into the stereo, The Buzzcocks instantly echoing across the room, and she grinned. _proper class_. She stood up on the bed, her feet jumping up and down to the beat as she danced, Damon looked towards her and backed towards Liam. "It's fine, not even John Lennon could ruin his kip" She said as she turned around, and Damon laughed. 

♪ _You spurn my natural emotions_  
 _You make me feel like dirt and I'm hurt♪_

"You pissed?" He asked and she shook her head. 

  
"Nah,only had four pints, what you take me for? " She said, and he mimicked her movements from the floor, and she laughed reaching for his arms, connecting them as they swayed from side to side.

" _Ever fallen in love, in love with someone_..." She sang, between breaths of laughter as she jumped down from the bed, in a air guitar jump.

Damon laughed and sang " _Ever fallen in love, in love with someone, you shouldn't have fallen in love with"_ They both sang, spinning each other round quickly, almost crashing into his bookshelf as they fell to the ground, in a pit of laughter.

"You sure you aren't pissed?" He asked and she rolled her eyes, throwing his pillow at him. "Hey, you can't assult me with my own pillow"

"Well I just did and guess what?" She whispered in his ear.

"What?"He whispered back. before she hit him with another pillow.

"Just did it again" She laughed. He sat up, a small grin, lose on his lips and Nya thought it was all a bit like those cowboy stand-offs, waiting who was going to go first. 'this town ain't big enough for the two of us'.

She quickly exited the room, sprinting down the corridor, laughing like a maniac. Because yes, in real life...we'd all take the cowards way out, like a pro. "You'll never catch me Albarn" She shouted,"I've had to run after the ice cream van at least 20-" She slipped over on the alcohol drenched floor.

Damon laughed, picking her up over his shoulder when he caught up with her. It was at this point in time that Nya realized that her petty remarks seemed to be a compensation, for the fact she had the physical presence of a fucking paper clip. "Put me down, Bon Jovi" She tried to say but was laughing too much.

"Ok" He said before dropping her, causing Nya to scream and catching her before she hit the floor.

"You're dead" She said between pits of laughter as she stood up, tackling him to the ground...taking a small victory for fellow midgets, before she began to tickle him.

"Oh fuck no, revenge" He said as he laughed on his back, swaying around like Nya's pet fish Glen did out of water, when she accidently tipped his tank playing frisbee with Neil Diamond records.

While she was distracted mourning Glen, Damon took his revenge by grabbing her rib cage and tickling her back...karma. She rolled off him, laying next to him, laughing.

As they lay on the floor, she leaned over, her touch hovering over the beaded necklace that was hooked around his neck. She gave him a knowing look and he nodded, letting her trace the surface of the beads. "My mum made it for me" He said and she nodded, unsure why her curiousity was becoming so promienant.

"It's beautiful...it doesn't end" She whispered, gesturing to it's cyclical structure. "It's infinite..."

"Always reminds me...that things can last forever" He said and she frowned, _if he believed that then why did he never seem to want to love forever. Because people aren't mysteries thick, at least not with any clues, you barely know him._ "Especially heartbreak"

"Only if you let it, nothing is infinite..." She whispered. "Anything that's ever good never lasts, you can only enjoy that one moment, and no two moments can be the same, otherwise everything would fade, and then, everything will be nothing"

"Moments can last forever" He said, and she shook her head. "Moments of the past won't leave me"

"I'd rather hide from it, no good comes from the past...it's easier to pretend it isn't real" She said.

He sat up, his eyes averted away from her. He stayed like that for a moment. It seemed like that he had played this game too many times. She wondered how such beautiful eyes could've caused so much damage, broken so many hearts, be so deep in the past that they can't breathe within any moment after, afraid of all it all being the same. _But then again, you don't trust him because of his past...how are you any different?_ She thought.

She wasn't one to complain she wasn't an angel, but perhaps he was the devil, dressed as an angel, and his particular brand of hell, is mysterious, broken, vintage record of a boy, a night sky , dark and haunting, slipping into nothingness. Hell had eyes like a thunderstorm that rips through the night sky, shattering it completly but still manages to embrace the tone of the night and a constellation across his cheeks and eyelashes. If this was hell, she was no longer scared.

"Erm...I have some pajamas you could borrow, if you want" He asked awkwardly, stumbling over his words, she nodded and he got to his feet.

"Here" He said throwing her a grey top and blue bottoms carelessly, as though he hadn't spent the past ten minutes self conciously searching for the perfect one's. When he didn't move, she began to shrug her Addidas jacket off and widened in shock before quickly turning around. 

The epilouge of the night began to fade, on the two lay next to each other, uninterested in sleep. "Why did you even move here?" He asked, meeting her gaze on the ceiling, "Manchester's a shitehole compared to Newcastle" 

  
"Blyth" She corrected him "There's more than one Geordie town you know...and aye, I didn't have a choice. I like it here, it's not perfect, music's mint though" His deep blue eyes never left hers and she sighed, hating the deep magnetic pulse they had. "I got kicked out of Catholic school and me brother got done for nicking cars, so we legged it, not like trouble left without us"

  
His eyes widened "You having a laff?" He asked and she shook her head, giggling softly. "No way...fucking hell how'd you manage that?"

"Pranked the nuns by hiring a stripper during prayer when I were a young'un" She confessed and he burst out laughing, qnd she felt his gaze falling on the silver cross that rested across her chest, he laughed again, burying his face in the pillow. "What about you...why'd you go up North?"

Damon hesistated "Also got expelled" He said, shaking his head and she shuffled closer, engouraging him to elaborate. "Well, got in a huge fight on opening night of our play...sort of kick started me and Gra's friendship after he knocked me out with a saxaphone"

Her laugh cut short when she thought of Graham, _he's not as bad as he seems, he's just a bit thick and only thinks of himself._ "What are you afraid of?" He asked, _you._ "Like in general?" _everything._

"You're on your last wish..." She noted and Damon gave her a confused look. "You only got three, you sure that's what you want?"

He closed his eyes, and his teeth sunk into his lip, Nya looked away. "What do you dream about?" He whispered. _ASMR with Damon Albarn, I suppose._

"I don't..." Her voice lowered to meet his. "I struggle to sleep at night...too many thoughts. I only seem to dream when I'm awake. Sometimes I see things that aren't there, like wonderful and exciting things, that I'll never see if I ever close me eyes. " 

"My mind doesn't want me to sleep...it's why I drown out the thoughts with music. Drop them and try holding onto your heart instead" He said and her gaze softened, he paused for a moment and there was a long silence. He picked up a mixtape and placed the headphones around her ears. "And when the thoughts are too loud to sleep, turn the music louder" He resumed the tape deck, Asleep, by the smiths flooded through her ears. 

♪ _Sing me to sleep, sing me to sleep♪_

"You really like the Smiths don't you?" Was all she could bring herself to say and he smiled shyly. "I would be concerned if you didn't...what about you? What do you dream about?"

♪ _I'm tired and I_  
 _I want to go to bed♪_

There was a long silence and she could feel his heartbeat quicken, and his eyes widen, he hesistated, his gaze falling deep into hers. "I'm in a library, by a piano, by a painting" He began and Nya's chest froze in place. "Falling into a conversation that differed from any other because it echoed a reckless stream of integruity with ripples of chaos...soothing perfectly like waves" He continued and Nya turned away from him, trying to catch her breath.

♪ _And then leave me alone♪_

"Good thing it weren't real" She managed to say and felt his pressence fall back a little bit. "...that it were just a dream" 

♪ _Don't try to wake me in the morning_  
 _'Cause I will be gone_ ♪

As soon as she was sure Damon was asleep, she rolled out of the bed, trying not to wake anyone up as she crept out of the room with cold floorboards under her feet ,thundering heart beat and Mission Impossible theme playing in her head. Her fingers turned the door knob and she pushed the door open to what seemed to be some sort of home office...as some people liked to take work home, in little samples for some reason. 

  
She crouched down in front of the desk, searching through locked draws, cabinets until in a box of files...she found what she was looking for. A small smile crept through her lips.

"Can't stay out of trouble can you?" Liam's voice made her jump and she instantly switched dumb horror film mode and grabbed the telephone book to use as a weapon. It wasn'glt a lifestyle, turns out it's an impulse, she made a note to be more considerate when watching horror films. "Were you daydreaming about being a detective?"

"No...?" She tried and he laughed soflty, crouching beside her. "Didn't think you'd ever wake up"

"I do for you" He said, "So is this what all this was about? Look I think Albarn's a middle-class, bird nicking, cunt, but I still wouldn't use him ..."

"I wouldn't be here if there was any morality left Liam, and it's not that, I didn't even know it was an option until I found out his parents were teachers..." She said "Look...list of names from everyone in that school, and look...that stupid football team...that's who they suspected, the coppers" 

"I thought you were doing all this dangerous shit because the coppers were muppets ..." Liam asked and Nya sighed, tearing a page out of the book and holding it tightly in her hand, the paper creasing. "You can't re-write the past" 

  
"I'm not trying to...it doesn't exist" She whispered "Not until I found out what was real"

Liam nodded, wrapping his arms around her. "Don't this break you"He whispered and she sighed in his embarce. 

"It already did once...I'm just trying to rebuild everything" She whispered. "Trying to stop myself falling"

ᵃ **ᶠᵉʷ ʲᵒʰⁿⁿʸ ᵐᵃʳʳ ʳᵉˡᵃᵗᵉᵈ ⁿⁱᵍʰᵗᵐᵃʳᵉˢ ˡᵃᵗᵉʳ...**

So, here's the situation. 

  
Despite the surpringly many rooms in Damon's house, everyone's main concern rightfully being food meant that everyone had congrated in the kitchen like it was a mosh pit, with **_BREAKFAST_** headlining. That meant that the hungover blur band were in the boxing ring with Oasis frontman, whilst Alex and Nya were spectating. So there was two bands and one kitchen.

No that wasn't the start of a porno, it was the trigger of a civil war.

What do you do?

 **A)** Have a laugh about it for a while, and make sort of passive agressive jokes that don't mean much because you'd think one of you would be the better person and not expecting that person to be yourself, like Graham did. **B)** Argue over a toaster and whether Shreddies or Weetabix is better like Dave and Liam C) Complete in an excessive and highly dramatized series of entertaining events hosted by a Drag Queen named Bambi, like DuPaul's Drag Race.

Can't pick just one? No problem: allow the universe to be helpful for once, Do you do: D) all of the above, like Alex and Nya did.

See those two people in the corner, discussing calmly and rationally as they work together to make break as a way of balancing their differences and interwining it to create something beautiful...yeah, tragically that's not them.

"You need two layers of cheese..." Nya complained, as Alex added the beans to her toast "Double decker cheese or it's inedible"

The look Alex gave Nya there, tempted her to send it as an audition tape for Alex James to be the next Gordan Ramsey. "All you need is the right cheese and then it'll be fine, which is Chedder..."

Nya walked over to the fridge. "No, he only has Red Leicester...it's fine if it's the wrong cheese" She said and Alex shook his head is disprovel, muttering something unrepeatable. She leaned over the counter, brushing Alex's fringe out of eyes, and offering the toast towards him, he hesistated before eating it.

He nodded but then scrunched up his face and choking, she gestured to the chili powder she had purposefully put on it. He rolled his eyes as she laughed, passing him a drink. "You are evil...fuck" He muttered in between coughs and Nya patted his back, it could be safe to say that despite the cheeseman's efforts in mentoring her...she'd still only recieve a 2 at best if this was _Come Dine With Me._

Alex threw some of the beans at her and she ducked, before throwing a spoon in his direction. However their battle was cut short when Liam and Damon had run each other fully concious and that meant they had to fight...over Shreddies. "Right we best be off then..." Nya said, hoping not to leave before one of them turned the other into a toastie.

Graham gave Damon a knowing look as he poured wisky into his tea. "Yeah, but before you go...I were wondering, if...I don't know, you would need the landline number or something, if you, all of you wanted to do this again"

She hesistated, the discomfort cleary apparent on her face as Damon, cleared his throat, and took her to the side. "Look...you should know, I'm not only talking to you to piss of Liam, it's just been a laugh and I think we could be mates"

"Is that even possible?" She asked, and he sighed. "Everytime you're around there's nearly always a scrap"

"Then, Nya Eze, I'm making you a promise..." He said, taking a flower out of the vase. "We'll be best mates by the end of the week, without casualities. If not, I'll fuck off and...I'll audition for Annie in the school musical. If I do...then you'll go to the music festival with me"

She thought for a moment "Ok...deal" They shook hands and Damon tucked the small flower behind her ear, causing her cheeks to flush with a pink heat. "But you may have to start practising your lines"

He grinned, rolling up her sleeve and lressing the tip of his pen against her skin. Each drop of ink sinking and burning deep as he imprinted a series of numbers onto her skin. Every movement was slow, the warmth from his touch melting into her arm, he let go of my arm and she could finally breath again. Say something to make it less awkward. Don't just stand there like an gnome...you have to seem like you're completely uneffected by this. _**Cool?**_ (lame) **_Ha, won't be needing this?_** (trying too hard) Okie dokie? (you're not retired yet Nya)

"I LOVE palindromic numbers!" She squealed...if there were crickets here, they'd be having a blast right now.

He looked at her weirdly and managed a half-smile. _Tosser, I actually said that, the worst part is I sounded genuienly excited as well._ "Right, erm... Imma run off, see you around..." _Hopefully never again_ _as I'm trying to figure out how to sponteously combust_ _._ Her sublte exit was ruined by the fact she couldn't figure out how to unlock the door.

At this point she was tempted to run away to nepal to live the rest of her life as a goat and never return.   
  
  
  



	7. ►Track Seven

  
˚ * ⋆  
˛ * ⭒ ✺  
･ *･ﾟ: * ❅ ✧   
･ ･ ..✹ ✧..   
. *✫ ⋆*❅*•̩̩͙ ﾟ ..+ ⋆  
  
⋆ * . * .  
. ･ . ･ . * .   
. ･ ･ + . ⋆** ﾟ ..+  
. ⋆ * .  
* . .･ . ･ .  
⊹ . * ✧  
˚ ..  
⋆ ･*･.･ .. ..  
* ⊹ *ﾟ  
･+ ･*✫  
.. . ⋆ ❅ ✫  
  
* . . ･ . ﾟ ⋆ *⁎̩͙ .  
･*･.･  
. ･ ･⊹ . ..+  
. ⋆ ❅ .   
✫. . ﾟ . ⋆* . ⋆ .  


  


  


**ˢᵃᵛᵉ ᵗᵒⁿⁱᵍʰᵗ**  
1:15 ───|────── 3:07 

|◁ II ▷| 

∞ ↺ 

▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ █ 100 %  
  
  
  


**DAMON**

  
**THERE WAS LIMITED TIME** for Damon to formulate the score to his death. As he clung on for dear life, he knew that this was not the way he ever intended to go out. The score would either have to be subtle, slow with a soft piano melody, or an overly dramatic 37 piece sting and trumpet assemble as he died...even though in twenty-years time it would be replaced with _Whatcha say?_ Instead. 

  
Had he achieved enough in his eighteen years to make the headlines? Sure he had his spelling test medal (second thanks to that stupid word _dodecahedron_ ) and had contributed to school plays. But was it enough for his death to be described as a ' _tradegy_ ' Would they print things like _'He had so much to offer the world?'_ and ' _His death is a huge loss not just to society, but mankind'?_ He sighed. Probably not, fuck, why hadn’t he donated his liver to a dying child or raised millions for blind, orphaned puppies in Peru?

"Albarn get the fuck down you skinny tosser!" Mr Morrison, the PE teacher, aka Satan in a tracksuit shouted at him. If this debacle could just end swiftly and quietly, he would totally reconsider his atheism.

"I can't, I'm stuck!" He lied, readjusting the stupidly small shorts that his mum had bought him in Year Eight and had refused to upgrade ever since. He glanced despairingly across the sports hall. The lads were in one half, engaged in an assortment of shit gymnastics and the girls were in the other half, enjoying the genteel and cultured pursuit of badminton.

The impatient teacher grabbed a netball and hurled it at the base of the frame. "STRIKE!" Mr Morrison shouted, like he was playing some massive ten-pin bowling game

"I’ve been sent to rescue you" Dave said as he climbed the climbing wall, opposite side of him.

"Just leave me here to die, Dave. Save yourself" Damon said, he had created a spectacle, and he would never live down the now-inevitable finale. He would have to move schools. After this, it wouldn’t be worth going on. He now had the emotional experience to become a damaged goods artist that would die at 24.

"Dames, it's fine, you put one foot below the other. And repeat. I’ll do it with you, take your mind off the height." Dave offered and Damon shook his head "This is ridiculous. I’ll have to perform a fireman’s lift"

"That’s not the problem" Damon said, beginning to panic, his cheeks burning. "Something has come _up_ , which makes it _hard_ for me to come back down. Right? Very _hard_."

Dave grinned, and began to laugh, looking down "Wowzer."

"Stop looking!" Damon hissed.

"Well, what caused it?" Dave asked. "Is it me looking fine in my new polo shirt?" Damon banged his head against the climbing frame. "Wait...the birds are playing badmington...oh it's Nya, she's just been knocked out by a racket, no wait, she survived. You need a girlfriend"

"I know Dave, I know..." Damon sighed, not wanting to jump as he couldn't be hospitalized like this, just the doctors consoling his sobbing mother: 'We’re sorry, Mrs Albarn, there was nothing we could do… It just exploded. The operating theatre is carnage'. "You're the expert, if I was caught...how quickly would it go around?"

"Quicker than how long you could last" Dave said, laughing again.

"This isn’t a mothers’ meeting, this is sixth form physical education, I don’t see anything physical happening!" Mr Morrison shouted.

"You would if I came down" Damon muttered, making Dave snigger.

"Look, in five minutes, the lesson's over, you're not gonna die" Dave said. "But mate, you've got to move on...she's way out of your league"

Damon frowned, sure he knew that, but having it told to him...was incredibly offensive. "How so?"

"Let’s put it this way: what are you wearing for Brandon's party tomorrow?" He asked.

"I’m not going to … oh, funny. You’re funny" Damon said, "So you saying I'm not hard enough?"

"Oh I think you're-"

"I know Dave, I know" Damon muttered, he leaned back, accidently shaking the climbing frame. And to be a really good metaphor for his life, the century-year old death trap decoded that now would be a good time to collapse, sending the two bots crashing to the ground. Damon's death score eould be the angry whistles of Mr Morrison and the shouts and laughs of his peers. _Grammy worthy, I'd like to thank the academy._  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_Song Duration: Rock This Boath Aaliyah 4:35_  
_Rubber Ring Smiths. 3:54_  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It was at this point in his life, Damon considered moving into detention, pack some clothes, bring a tent and a sleeping bag because he practically lived there. The only time he wasn't at lunchtime detention was when he skived it. Dave sat at the back of the empty library, using his pencils as drumsticks as he immersed himself in the latest gossip about who got Jess Jackson pregnant.

He tried to spend the time catching up on his Drama essay's but ended up constucting a sequence of keyboard scales lazily, with no distinct pattern. He began to sketch small drawings on the back of the next mixtape he had made, as he became trapped beneath the clasp of _Eagle-Eye Cherry._

His attention couldn't be stolen away by anything else other than his music, not until something hit him on his head, for the first time, taking him away from the mixtape's hold. Damon looked around quickly and spotted a paper plane in front him, he unfolded it's uneven edges to reveal a messy cartoon sketch of a boy with bag hair, sitting at a desk listening to music with Smiths lyrics surrounding him. _'The most impassionate song, to a lonely soul, is so easily outgrown, but don't forget the songs, that made you smile :)'_

Followed with an arrow and 'Dramatic boi'. Damon couldn't hide the small smile that fell through, Nya was sitting a few seats nehind him, and when his gaze met hers, she grinned, mimicking a tear running down her cheek with her finger. He laughed, shaking his head and looked back at Mr Davies who was busy watching the footie on the telly, and Damon quickly picked up his stuff and moved to sit next to Nya.

"So what you in for?" He asked, brushing his fringe out the way, so he could actually see.

"Are we cellmates or summat then?" She teased, and his cheeks flushed "If so, we best be having tough nicknames..like pineapples or summat, wait, no, forget I said that..."

"Alright pineapples" He said with a cheeky smile and her own cheeks were brushed with a crimson taint. "So what did you do? Did you lose the lid to the gluestick and no one could go to break?"

She laughed softly, "It's nothing that poetically tragic, any guess is probably more interesting" Nya said.

He thought for a moment. "You nicked all the spoons from the kitchens and hid them in the head of sixth's office, which was like a metal swimming pool?" He suggested.

"If only"She said, staring at Mr Davies who seemed to be drifitng to sleep. "Those spoons would've been part of summat so beautiful, heroes...nah, got done for breaking into recpetion again...how 'bout you?"

Damon paused for a moment, considering his words very carefully, the truth would be assisted suicide, but anything less creative would deem him boring. "Er...broke the appartus thing in the sports hall" He said and Nya laughed, continuing to write up revision notes. "Oh...I also finally finished your book, side note: I'm sueing you for emotional damage...I hate you"

She grinned as she doodled a small pictured of Dave, and folded it into a paper plane. _You aren't special, she's just nice, you were stupid to think otherwise,_ his mind reminded him. "You'll have to join the queue" She said. "Did you like it?"

"Yes,I loved it so much but no at the same time. Why was it so sad?" He asked causing her to laugh quietly.

"Because it would defect the purpose otherwise" She said and he sighed sadly looking down at his hands as though he was still traumatized. He brought the book from his bag and slowly pushed it across the table, she smiled and put it in her bag, automatically getting another book out and handing it to him.

"Nya..." Damon began nervously, and her gaze met him, "The thing is...I was wondering well as the thing is..I really enjoyed that book and I was wondering if you wanted to watch the film version...with me" He was unable to keep her gaze for long.

"You're out of wishes..." She whispered and a smile thread through his lips.

"Maybe I've found another shooting star" He mused, turning the music up louder for emotional support as his heart beat like a FUCKING THUNDERSTORM...fuck,fuck,fuck, was that smooth, was it cool, no Damon that was stupid, and fucking-

"When?" She asked coyly and Damon's eyes widened, as she stole all the air from his lungs.

"Oh...erm, really? I mean..." He bit his tongue. _Breathe_. "How about now?"

"Are you inviting me to run away into the sunset with you?" Nya teased and he looked back down at the drawing in his hand, his teeth sunk into his bottom lip, before he smirked.

"Anyday, everyday" Damon said, hoping Dave could here him, ha Dave: 0 Damon: 1. She looked taken back for a moment, titling her to the side as if she was weighing something until eventually, she smiled...fuck that smile, it was the start and end of everything. He offered out his hand "Do you trust me?"

"Course not" She said, but there was no malice in her tone, her hand falling easily into his, trying not toshow the effect the heat that spiralled beneath her touch had on him, molten, electric.

"Good, I'd be concerned if you did" Damon said, surprised that he felt no resentment towards the revelation. He stood up, picking up his ruler and threw it at the light at the front of the classroom, it smashing as it hit the floor. "Ok run"

Another moment fell and the two ran away from the mess, Damon pushed the window open, his knees scrapping across the wooden frame as he climbed out onto the roof, helping Nya jump off next to him. And through a spell of laughs, as their feet tried to keep them tied to the roof, giggling with the broken tiles slipping beneath their feet, alongside the cheers and Nya's raised arms as she spun around. Time became moments, and moments became laughter that tainted the air that filled their lungs as they jumped from the roof, out of the school car park and over the fence.  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_Song Duration: Nocturnal Me Echo & The_  
_Bunnymen 4:58_  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Whenever the bell flicked passed the door of a shop, it seem to trigger a chemical reaction through Nya, as she appeared more allert and cautious, trying to attract less attention towards her. The two had made a quick pitstop to Aldi to get as many cheap sweets to sneak into the cinema as possible, which was going to be difficult...as you know what Aldi's like, go in their for sweets, leave with a tent and a trampoline.

"Dib dabs are a must, and so are Wagon Wheels, I don't make the rules" Nya said, pulling out a trolly, only for the purpose of sitting in it as he pushed her.

"Oh and Digestives" Damon added gesturing to one of the top shelves and she nodded, standing up in the trolly, trying to reach them. Both of them were too short to reach, so Nya let Damon lift her onto his shoulders to pick them off the top shelf, another moment slippd and she was back on the floor.

"We've got about five minutes until film starts, minus the adverts. There's only one way we're gonna make it" Damon said, and she grinned, grabbing another trolly and uses it to race him around the shop, almost crashing into every other ile, until they made it to safety, accidently taking the trolly with them as they ran out of the shop in a pit of laughter and leaving a sweet trail.

"Are you going to Brandon's party?" Damon asked as he spun the trolly round in circles as she squealed.

"Course..." She said, trying to catch her breath. "Why? Oh wait...I'm the ticketmaster now. It's not for you Damon"

"What's that suppose to mean?" He asked leaning against the trolly.

"It means, that you've probably have never even walked down the Council Estate, let alone had a piss up there" She chose her words carefully. "And can your lot really behave with Liam's lot? No one wants a scrap"

He placed a hand to his heart. "I've already promised no more fights, I'm a peacefully man now. I've found God" He said and shd rolled her eyes. "You just don't think I'm hard enough"

She shook her head. "I promise you, I don't care about that, I'm sure Colchester can be rough" Nya assured him. "I'll ask Brandon, he's calm, just with new blokes, you gotta have an eye out"

Damon grinned, a warm rush flooding his chest. "I'll stay away from trouble, I promise"

"We'll see"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_Song Duration: Across 110th St Bobby_  
_Womback_  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Sneaking into a projection box was surprisingly easy, which Damon thought said a lot more about their security than his sleuth skills. "Shouldn’t someone be watching this?" Nya asked as she inspected the projector.

  
"I think it’s automatic" Damon suggested. "Do you know what’s playing?"

  
"Beaches from the looks of it" Nya mumbled, and frowned. "Ah...this were just a trick to go the cinema...very clever" 

Damon grinned, taking off his jacket and using it as a blanket to sit on the floor. "Maybe I wanted to challenge your legacy" 

She smirked, "Trust me, I'm within a million tricks...nothing in your mind is real" 

Damon opened the packet of _Fruit Pastilles_ which he bought from the vending machine and threw one at her, and she caught it in her mouth. "...Perhaps you'll let me find out...might not be for tommorrow, today, but definitly for the end of the week as we we'll be besties of course" She laughed, throwing a _Haribo_ at Damon. He tried to catch it in his mouth but failed painfully.

"And everyone will be wondering why I legged it to the West Country instead" She teased and he rolled his eyes, falling back into into her not moving back afterwards, until a moment later. 

  
The problem was, if he could have her this real in his dreams every night of hks, life. He'd have any light in his life fade and keep only the dreams. Reality is a such a beautiful pain. 

And then, just like anything, music set them apart, as the opening scene began to flicker through, the both shuffled closer to the film. "Can I ask you summat?" She asked carefully. 

"Sure...but you'll only have two wishes left" He said and she laughed. 

"I only need one" She assured him, choosing her words carefully. "Who broke your heart?"

The sound he made there was inaudiable to the human ear and could only really be heard by dogs. "What?" 

"...It was the like the first thing you ever told me" She said and Damon felt a lump in his throat and swallowed. "It what they all say, perhaps you tried to displace the pain, the shards of a broken heart onto other people. 

"A made a mistake once..." Was all he was able to whisper. "I can't ever leave it, maybe one day I'll tell you"

"Maybe one day I'll wait" She said. "And if it's anything... I know what it's like, you can't really learn from a mistake if you lost everything bceause of it. Mistakes aren't for like of us, are only for those who can afford to learn from it" 

"And there lies the catch..." Damon mumbled, sighing. Could he afford to lose everything again? Had he even lost everything before? He didn't know, his heart ached like it did, he could never run from the past, learn from it, because his heart was there. _Maybe that's why you do it. Why you fall so easily, why you used so many other hearts? Was that why you fell for her? Because her heart was still beating?_ He shook his head, _no, it wasn't like that anymore,_ he didn't want her to ever cry, ever fall, ever break. She wouldn't let him close enough to, but he still would never. 

Nya sat closer to the screen to get a better view, it was like the entire shadow of her was glistening under the light of the screen. Everything became nothing, moments that were binded by her trance under the soft glow of the screen and the faint sparkles that would slip down her cheeks. Tears.

She was a film of his own, Nya. She was a cinematic masterpiece. The room was casted over, with a faint blue spell as the pool scene drifted through. There was a sadness within her, one that Damon hadn't quite comprehended before, _you will never know what's real._ A trickster, of course she hid it well. He couldn't ever imagine her making a mistake, an error yes, but everything she did seemed to work with a perfect broken chaos, but how would he know what was real?

Damon looked up, this time his eyes weren't alone. "Who broke yours?" He asked cautiously and she grinned, tapping her nose twice. 

"Spoilers..."She said, but no smile could hide that small brush of sadness beneath her eyes. "Perhaps you did, in alternative parallel universe, where I had purple hair and you had a interesting personality..."

  
"Ha Ha" Damon muttered, but was glad for the loss of seriousness, it was although within silence, she knew all of his secrets, and she was waiting for him to confess them himself. She knew about his past, perhaps not all of it, but enough, everyone did. Yet she was still here, hadn't run away, perhaps she simply enjoyed his company. He wanted to tell her he never meant to hurt anybody, that he was stupid, and he just wanted to remove his own pain, that using people, breaking them, wasn't what he did. Not anymore. But all that came out was: "But in a parallel universe I always thought I'd be a French farmer, who couldn't play guitar"

"I see it...but I know that I would've been one of those boat rowers in Venice...I'll be a bit far from France" Nya said he felt his heart stop beating.

"We'd be sitting like this is every alternate universe?" Damon asked quietly and she nodded, giving him a confused look. 

"That's how they work Albarn...but with like an orange ceiling or summat" She assured him and he was able to breathe again.

They were sitting so close together in that small space that his fingers accidently brushing her knuckles. It didn't have to seem deliberate, but he made it so anyway. Damon felt her hand shiver underneath his, but she didn't move it from where they touched. There was only one thing that circled his mind, the only thing to make all of this go away for a moment, the only thought he let his voice reveal. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone" He said bluntly, instantly regretting it. "I wasn't being myself, I was being stupid...I didn't want to break any hearts, at least not really".

Nya looked like she didn't know what to make of any of this, but she also looked like she was denying it was even happening. She looked like maybe in the darkness of the room, they could pretend nothing was real. _It wasn't real._ "But you still did...nothing can change the past...no how much you wish..." She whispered, drifting away from him shaking her head, withdrawing her glance and fingers from beneath his. "And besides, I'm not the one you need to tell"

"I know" He whispered, unable to even open his eyes at this point, he knew he had fucked up. "It's why I need the music, I know everything I did was wrong. I know" 

She shook her head in disappointment, looking as though she was going to say something, until her watched bleeped again, just like it did last time. Nya stood up, brushing off the crumps off her clothes. "Come on Moriessy, we best be off" He nodded reluctantly, pulling himself up, he turned to leave, but she instantly stopped him. "You left this..." She passed Damon the Walkman and he inspected carefully, holding it close to his chest. "Almost lost your soul" She teased and he laughed. 

"Yeah...almost. You're a hero, what can I ever do to repay you?" He said dramatically and she laughed and thought fot a moment. 

"Brandon's party...you'll let me decide your wardrobe" She said, at some attempt, Damon considered to convince him not to go, to be too scared, more than he already was of going. 

"Alright, that's clam...I've aqquired a Fairy Godmother" Damon said dramatically, and the disappointment of him not giving in fell from Nya's face quickly. "Will I'll get the whole Addidas and glitter package?"

She twirled sarcastically. "What can I say, I'm an expert in the fashion field" Nya said, laughing, until her watch bleeped again, and she sighed. "See you tommorow...and bring Graham" He nodded, giving her a sarcastic salute before she disappeared. 

  
"See you tommorow" He said, and this time, he needed no music to make him smile.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
